I'd Rather Kiss a Wookie
by Banpaia Bara
Summary: Anastasia had terrible dreams of terrible things that happened in impossible worlds. In one such dream she is confronted by a mysterious force. Little does she know that when she confronted that force a whole Galaxy would await her as Sith and Jedi became aware of her. Darth Vader/OC undetermined amounts of AU. 4-5 years after Order 66
1. Chapter 1

I'd Rather Kiss a Wookie: Chapter 1: The Day with the full moon.

Anastasia was in a place of darkness. She felt as if she was floating in water as she could not feel any ground beneath her. The total darkness was disorientating and she was not alone. She could sense things around her in the darkness, things that frightened her. They were as aware of her as she was of them and the fact that she did not know what they were was frightening. She kept turning though the darkness was all consuming as she could not see regardless of where she looked. Something was coming towards her she could sense its approach but what she did not know. The presence descended upon her and fear gripped her as she spun around and was confronted by a set of blue eyes that glowed with an ethereal light. The owner of those eyes stood some ten feet away and watched her with a curious attitude. Anastasia's fear evaporated as she recognized the eyes to be human in nature. She moved towards the owner of those eyes only to see them narrow as if trying to make a decision. Then the darkness around them dissipated and flashed in images of places on earth. New York. The White House. Big Ben in England. Venice. Tokyo. Then the images disappeared once more into darkness along with the blue eyes the only thing that remained was the echo of the word 'interesting'.

Anastasia woke from her strange dream and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she turned her head to look out the window that her bed rested next to. A dirty street of Lower Manhattan greeted her to the new day. With a sigh she rolled out of her twin size bed and ruffling her flaxen blond hair into something that did not so much resemble bed head she looked at her alarm clock. 5:45am. Her alarm would go off in another fifteen minutes so instead of waiting for it to tell her to get up she simply turned it off an started her day early. Though she had woken early she was not well rested, she never really was. Since she was a child she had terrible dreams that often kept her from sleeping. She regularly took sleeping aids to block out the dreams and allow her to rest somewhat peacefully. The previous night she had forgotten her pill and had suffered the dreams as a result.

Coffee was her only thought to help her get ready now. She walked across her small one room apartment and pressed the on button on her coffee grinder and maker. It was a machine that her parents had given her when she moved to the city for work. It was a nice machine and from what she knew it cost nearly two hundred dollars. Though her parents had not understood her wanting to go to the city Anastasia had hopes of becoming something more than what her parents expected. She was an artist and was rather successful in Fort Collins, Colorado. She had moved to Manhattan with the goal of becoming more of a success than what Colorado could offer her. At the moment she was part of the starving artist stereotype. She worked at a small coffee shop a few blocks from her apartment building and benefited most from the always fresh food policy. Which resulted in any pastries and muffins that were not sold that day being discarded. Anastasia would bag these that did not get sold and would take them home with her instead of throwing them out. Unfortunately there was not many that were left over, perhaps one or two. She sighed as she looked into her refrigerator that held a bottle of milk that expired two weeks ago but she was pretty sure it was still ok to drink. Aside from the milk there was a half of a blueberry muffin that had served as dinner the night before. She closed the fridge and wandered over to her dresser stepping lightly between stacks of canvases and painting supplies that were piled next to the dresser as the only room left aside from the small bathroom that had a floating wall dividing it from the rest of her apartment.

Grabbing a clean set of clothing and a towel she quickly showered and dressed in black leggings and a light tan tunic dress. She poured herself a cup of coffee and walked over to her bed sitting down and looking out onto the street as she drank her breakfast. It was about six thirty in the morning and the street was already filled with people. Most of them were walking towards work and other was sitting around. Some were in gangs some were just waiting for something unknown to Anastasia. She noted that the beggar Jenkins had found some old bags in his dumpster diving that he was now trying to sell to people who walked by.

Once she reached the bottle of her mug she sighed and said to no one but herself.

"Time to get started." She left her apartment and going down the building stairs she took a travel size deodorant out of her purse and applied it to her underarms. Once on the street she walked at a leisurely pace down the street and made it to the small coffee shop called John's Coffee by seven am. When she walked in John the owner waved at her from behind the counter and handed a customer their change. The coffee shop was little and small rented space in a much larger building. The upper floors were apartments, and the coffee shop had a homey feel with the radio playing softly in the background. Once the customer had their change and was walking out John said to Anastasia.

"Good Morning Ana, Do you mind grabbing the muffins from the kitchens and bringing them up from please."

"Sure thing." Anastasia said walking back behind the counter and into the kitchens she tossed her purse into an empty locker and locked it. She tied her hair back and pulled on an apron before going to the cooling rack and grabbing the large tray of assorted muffins and carried them to the front of the shop. She balanced the tray in one hand while opening the pastry display and setting the muffins in. She looked around the shop and frowned slightly.

"It rather quiet this morning isn't it?"

"It will pick up around nine, don't say things like that." John said to her as he cleaned the counter with a damp rag.

"What do you mean?"

"Every time you say that it is quiet the day ends up being slow. It's like a premonition." Anastasia frowned at him and said.

"That's not true."

"The last time you said it was quiet Obama was elected president and everyone was too busy celebrating the first black president to come to a coffee shop. The time before that was when that hurricane hit. Every time you have said that it seemed quiet something major has happened. Now I am going to be worried all day as to what will happen."

"John, that was coincidence, nothing is going to happen. Just wait and see."

"I'll bet you that something does."

"What do you want to bet?"

"Let's say, opening Friday and Saturday." Anastasia grimaced at the idea of having to open the shop two days in a row but regardless she was confident enough that she agreed.

"Alright, but if I am right you have to open Sunday for me." John smiled and said.

"It's a deal." He held his hand out and Anastasia shook his hand. Over the years they had often made bets similar to this. Anastasia was unfortunately often the losing party of these bets. John had better luck with bets.

As the day progressed Anastasia was correct in that it would be quiet, they had hardly twenty people come through by three in the afternoon. John had at this time made himself a large coffee and was sitting and enjoying it while Anastasia sat with her sketchbook drawing new designs for paintings and new ideas. She was at the moment drawing the brilliant blue eyes that she had seen in her dream with a pen.

"What's that going to be?" John asked looking up from his paper at down at her sketchbook. Anastasia looked up and said.

"It's just this dream I had. I couldn't see anything but these glowing blue eyes." John gave her a worried look and said.

"You forgot to take your medication didn't you?" She had known John for the better part of five years and though he was old enough to be her father they had become good friends.

"It's fine, my dream wasn't as bad as some I have had."

"I supposed, but I don't think that medication is the answer to your problem. I mean who has dreams of mass genocides that haven't even happened?"

"John, I have been dealing with this since I was a child. I have seen numerous doctors about it and they all tell me it is night terrors. And the best solution that they came up with was the sleeping aids. I don't know why my medicine didn't work that night but last night was nothing in comparison to that dream."

"Just be sure that tonight you do take your medicine, I worry about you."

"It will be fine, it takes a week for the medicine to completely leave my system anyway so long as I take my medicine tonight I won't have any issues."

"We interrupt your regular program with this breaking news. A Strange moon shaped object has appeared in the sky. Reports are that it is some kind of space craft, NASA has reported that there are several smaller vessels flying around the larger craft. Local authorities request everyone to take shelter and not leave their homes. Is this first contact?" The radio cut into their conversation and both John and Anastasia went quiet. She looked outside and saw several people in the street pointing at the sky. She stood and went outside followed by John and looked up to see what looked like a large moon in the sky it was partially blocked from view by a building.

"John lets go to the roof and get a better look." Anastasia said running back to the coffee shop. Next to the restrooms was a door with a stairs sign on it and she pulled it open and raced up the stairs followed by John.

"Ana, wait up! The radio said that we should stay inside!"

"If this is first contact with aliens I am not going to spend it cowering inside. Oh and you win the bet!" She yelled as she pulled herself up the stairs faster by pulling the handrails. Thirty floors later, she came out on the roof of the building and found several other people up there looking at the giant moon like object.

"What is that?" She asked and a young man maybe fifteen held out a pair of binoculars to her and said.

"It looks like a space ship but it's really weird." Anastasia took the binoculars and looked at the object, it had several lines through it and a divot that looked like a massive crater. That was less interesting than the smaller ships that flew around it. No, Anastasia realized as she watched. Those ships were getting larger. They, whoever they were, were landing.

"They are landing." She said in a small voice, though she barely whispered the sentence the chattering of the people on the roof stopped as they all looked at her then back up to the ship. The boy that had lent her the binoculars took them back now to look up at the sky. Indeed ships were coming down. One woman who was looking at her smart phone said.

"Washington put out a mandatory evacuation of New York, and New Jersey. We are the only areas that the ships are heading towards." With that everyone started to run for the stairs. John was roughly thrown out of the way as people started cramming into the stair way trying to flee as quickly as possible.

"What is happening?" He asked her out of breath

"New York and New Jersey are under mandatory evacuation orders." Anastasia said as uproar began on the streets. She and John went to the edge of the roof and looked down. People were running everywhere cars were filling the streets and most people were taking bicycles and a backpack not bothering with anything more.

John and Anastasia looked at each other with fearful looks.

"Come on we are getting out of here."

"What do you mean? The streets will be packed; there is no way we will be able to drive out of here."

"No but when my wife divorced me she never took her bike with her. You can use it and we will get out that way." With that he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stairs as the hum of the space ships started to filled the air and drown out the sound of people fleeing.

They raced down the stairs stopping at floor seven where John lived. As they went down the hallway they passed several people carrying suitcases. Many of those that had already abandoned their home had left the doors open.

"Here we are, wait here a moment and I'll get the bikes. There isn't any point in taking anything else." He said as he unlocked the door and went quickly inside. It was only a few moments before he returned with a bike, handing it to Anastasia he went back inside and came out with another. They headed for the stairs and had to carry the bikes down. Once on the streets they were swallowed by chaos. People were running, several screaming. Others had stopped and were praying , and some were yelling at the sky asking to be taken. Though all of these sounds were an undertone to the screaming roar of the spaceships that flew between the buildings.

"Ana! Come on we have to go!" John yelled at her and shaking her shoulder slightly getting her attention. She nodded and they both got on their bikes and started going as fast as they could through the crowds heading for the interstate which would be the fastest way out of the city. They did not make it far before someone ran in front of John's bike causing him to crash and Anastasia who was riding almost directly behind him to crash quickly after.

"Are you ok?" John asked as he helped her up. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead and they both were covered in scrapes and sore spots where bruises would appear.

"I-" Anastasia's response was cut off with the deafening scream as the intersection they had been about to enter was engulfed in a red light. People began to scream and those who could stop from entering the red light did. When the light and sound died away people were silent as a large ship lowered itself to land in the area it had blasted clear with the red beam. Anastasia was shaking with fear as the back panel of the ship began to lower. When it opened several men, or at least they looked to be men, in white armor with guns and helmets came out and one yelled.

"Don't move!" As they formed a half circle around the open hatch to the ship another man in completely black armor with a black cape came out. His breath was in calm rasping's from the helmet he wore. At the sight of this man John edged Anastasia behind him slightly as if blocking the armored man's view of her could protect her more. Anastasia shook with fear; the man in the black armor was such a commanding figure, not out of respect but fear she realized. He seemed to be able to sense the fear of the people who were standing unsure what to do, and he relished in it. He turned his head towards where Anastasia stood with John and he pointed at her and said to the men in white armor.

"That is her, with the blond hair." His voice was deep and commanding, it offered no room for argument or disagreement.

"Yes Sir." One of the men in white armor said as they began to rush over towards Anastasia.

"Ana Run!" John yelled at her shoving her away from him as he turned and tried to punch on of the men in white armor only to be shot with the gun. It shot lasers though instead of bullets. John collapsed to the ground and said to a fear frozen Anastasia.

"Run." Though she could not run, she wanted to but fear held her in place. It was only when the armored men grabbed her arms that she began to fight back.

"No! Let me go!" She screamed her voice breaking in the process. Perhaps it had been John's death or her scream but the people of Manhattan became alive with movement as they attacked the men in white armor. Trying to protect Anastasia and themselves.

"Kill all but the girl." The man who wore the black armor said. His voice somehow extending over the crowds and the men in white began shooting. As peoples screams of anger turned into screams of pain and fear the man in black turned and walked back up the ramp to the ship. Anastasia struggled against the two men dragging her towards the ship. Getting one of her arms free she punched one of the men in the head as hard as she could. Pain shot through her hand and wrist as she made contact with one of the lenses over the eyes. The lens had cracked but so had her hand.

"Stun her!" The man who got hit said then Anastasia's whole body went numb and her world faded to black.

When Anastasia woke her whole body felt stiff as if she had fallen asleep on the couch. Only she was freezing cold and laying on something hard. She lifted her head and frowned at the room made of dark metal. She had never been anywhere like this before. She tried to push herself up and pain shot through her right hand and wrist as it could not support her weight and she collapsed to the metal floor with a cry. Gingerly she lifted her arm to look at it. Her hand and wrist were black and blue and three of her fingers would not move. She had broken several bones in her hand she realized. Then she remembered why she had broken her hand. Aliens had landed, they had killed John and several other people, and they had kidnapped her. Her stomach churned and she rolled over as her stomach clenched and she lost what little food she had eaten that day.

After dry heaving for several minutes she edged herself away from the mess on the floor and backed herself up into a corner of the small prison cell. As she sat in that little room freezing cold, with a broken hand, she began to realize how low her chances of ever seeing home again were. She cried, she cried for John, she cried for her own rotten luck, and she cried out of the sheer stress that had mounted in less than a few hours.

It was hard to tell how much time passed in that little room, Anastasia only knew that she had cried more than she had in years. She had finally stopped crying and simply waited, eventually the aliens would come for her and they would do whatever their had planned. Time passed and anxiety began to build within Anastasia, something was coming. Something she was sure she did not want to encounter.

The door to the small prison room slid open and in the door way stood the man in black armor. Anastasia curled herself into as tight of a ball as she could manage without hurting her already broken hand. When he entered the room it was as if the air had become impossibly thick, the sound of his breathing hissing in and out was the only sound for a moment as he looked down on her. He had to be nearly seven feet tall Anastasia decided as she looked at him with fearful eyes.

"Do you know why you have been brought to this battle station?" He asked, his voice was commanding, and demanded an answer. Though Anastasia could only muster a small shake of her head.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked then and received the same response from Anastasia. He seemed to accept these answers and he turned and walked out of the room, it was then that Anastasia noticed two men in white armor standing guard outside.

"Bring her." He commanded and started walking.

"Yes Lord Vader." They said in unison and they came into the small cell each grabbing one of Anastasia's arms they dragged her out into the hallway and forced her to walk between them as they followed this Vader through the halls. There were a dizzying number of turns and elevators taking them to different floors of the space ship. When they finally came to a large control room with several windows looking out onto Earth did Anastasia realize that she had been taken to the big ship that looked like a moon.

"Tell me who taught you to commune with the force." Vader commanded as he turned on Anastasia. When she did not answer a force pressed down on her and she gasped as she struggled to remain standing.

"What Jedi taught you?" He asked again his voice becoming impatient and angry.

"I don't know what you mean." Anastasia gasped her voice raw.

"Perhaps you require more persuasion. Commander, prepare to destroy this planet." Vader said to a man at a panel.

"Yes Lord Vader. Charge main cannon." He said to the other men in the dark grey uniforms and they all began working on something. A slight tremor went through the entire ship as something began to power up. Anastasia realized that he wasn't even close to joking about destroying earth.

"Please I don't know what a Jedi is or what the force is. No one has taught me anything like that. Please I don't know what you are talking about!" Vader looked down at her as if debating on something.

"Lord Vader, the cannon is ready at your command." The commander said in a cool voice.

"Fire." Vader said, before Anastasia could beg him to not destroy the Earth a bright green laser shot towards the earth and in a brilliant flash of light the planet exploded. Whether it was the scream of the laser or a collective scream from everyone on earth Anastasia could not tell but the sound made her legs buckle and she fell to her knees. Too horror struck to scream or say anything, tears simply blurred her vision

"Why?" She said almost in audibly as Vader signaled the two men to take her back to her cell.

She did not know how long she spent in that cell, only that five meals had been delivered and she had not touched one of them. She remained curled up in the corner of her cell shivering from the cold and pain of losing her home completely. What would happen to her now? Where would she go? Why did Vader destroy Earth even after she answered him? None of it made sense to her, she was not sure she wanted to understand though.

For how could any explanation be adequate enough for destroying and entire planet?

After they took the fifth meal they delivered to her cell away did someone come for her. Again it was two of the men in white armor. They dragged her from the cell and to a wide room that looked to be a training area as several men in white armor ran through drills. Again there was Vader waiting for her as the two men dragged her forward. Her vision blurred as they forced her to stand upright before Vader.

"You will be my apprentice and learn the ways of the force." Anastasia was trying to muster all the strength she had to stand steady as she looked at the man before her and in a voice that she hated for its lack of confidence she asked.

"Why?" The moment the word left her lips the same crushing force she felt when Vader last questioned her fell on her shoulders and she staggered slightly her vision blurring from exhaustion one of the men grabbed her arm to steady her.

"The force is strong with you, I will make you stronger." Anastasia glared at him now, and though she still could not see clearly she said.

"What makes you think that I would ever do what you wanted me to after you destroyed my home?"

"Let your hatred free, give yourself to the darkside-"

"Look dumb ass I don't know what you are talking about and I don't give a fuck!" Anastasia said interrupting Vader, she was about to insult him more when the pressure that had been merely pressing down on her wrapped itself around her neck and squeezed, preventing her from speaking or breathing. She clawed at her neck with her good hand as her vision blurred even more, only when she fell to her knees did it release her and she gasped for air. The two men who escorted her to Vader dragged her up off the floor and made her stand once more.

"You will obey me."

(So chapter one of this story, please leave a review letting me know what you think so far. I know it's a rather slow start but I wanted to get the story going right. I have read a lot of Vader fanfics and have to say that very few of them are well written and those that were good have been on hiatus for some time which is disappointing. Now I know that most people don't like romance fics with Vader with anyone but Padme but let's be honest here, she dies. The story is going to be varying degrees of AU depending on how I feel. This is set roughly 4-5 years after Order 66 in that black out period for Anakin/Vader that we don't know what is going on. [yea I know there is a bunch of books and what not about star wars and what happens in different times but I am going off of movies 1-6 only])


	2. Chapter 2

I'd Rather Kiss A Wookie Chapter 2: To be without a home

Anastasia had been taken back to her cell shortly after her last visit with Vader. She now sat again in the cold corner of her metal cell and waited. Her stomach knotted painfully as she realized that she had to have gone at least a day or two without eating. It would also explain her light headedness and the heavy feeling in her arms and legs.

She had become almost accustomed to the ache of her broken hand and had assumed that if it healed anywhere near properly she would still be unable to hold a pencil or grip a paintbrush, not that any of that mattered now. She doubted that she would ever hold a paintbrush again.

She closed her eyes tiredly though sleep evaded her, too many things were painful for her at the moment, and the combination of these pains would not let her sleep. The metal door slide smoothly open and one of the security guards in the dark grey uniforms delivered the standard meal of a cup of water and some grey mush that Anastasia had yet to identify. He set the tray down on the floor and looked at Anastasia with something akin to pity.

"You should eat. Lord Vader will not be lenient even though you are weak like this." Anastasia looked up at the man, he was thin and his brown hair was slicked back under a dark grey cap that seemed to be standard issue for everyone aboard the ship. He stood there for a moment before sighing slightly and pushing a button for the door to slide closed again. The odd smell of the grey mush reached Anastasia and her stomach growled violently as her hunger pains increased. She couldn't even identify what the smell was, only that her body registered it as some sort of food. The man was right though, it wouldn't help her any if she died from starvation. She edged herself over towards the tray with the grey mush and gave it a distrusting look. Instead of digging right into the food she took the cup of water and drank it quickly. It was stale yet cold. While she thought that drinking the water would help ease the pain in her stomach it only increased as her body feverishly sought calories to burn that it had not received. Grudgingly she picked up the spoon and scooping up some of the grey mush she sniffed it again before trying a little bit of it. It was a bland taste, like oatmeal that had nothing added to it. Though for once she was thankful for something simple to eat, and she began to devour the mush as the pain in her stomach slowly eased away.

When she had finished with the meal she almost regretted it as the strange food was not settling as nicely as she would have hoped. Silently she prayed that she would not get sick off the alien food. Edging away from the center of the room and back to her corner she curled up again and tried to keep herself from shivering in the cold. To her surprise she had been able to drift off to sleep, though it was far less restful as she would have liked.

In her dreams she was standing in the control room of the space ship, Vader was there but everyone else had blurred into the background as she watched the green laser strike the Earth destroying the planet. Pain enveloped Anastasia as she watched this happen over and over again in her sleep. The pain of billions of people all dying at the same time echoed through her. Her own pain at losing her home, the anger she felt towards Vader for destroying her home. The hate that she could not act on tore at her. She wanted to make Vader feel all the pain that he bestowed upon her. She wanted to destroy him as he had destroyed everything she had ever known.

Anastasia woke to the suffocating pressure of Vader's presence as she opened her eyes to see him standing in the door way of her cell. He held some sort of stick in his hands that he tossed onto the ground before her.

"That is a light saber, pick it up." Anastasia reached out for the metal stick with her good hand and picked up the light saber. It weighted perhaps three pounds and had a button on the side of it. Pressing the button a red blade came from the end of the stick and hummed threateningly with the power that it contained. Anastasia slowly stood up careful not to touch her bad arm to anything as she looked back up at Vader as if wondering what he expected her to do with the sword.

"In time you will learn to use this weapon along with the force. For now you will study blocking a droids shots with the light saber." He said as he held up a small ball like thing that flashed with lights and floated out of his hands to hang midair before Anastasia. It waited for her to hold the light saber up in a defensive stance. Though Anastasia did not hold up the blade to defend herself from the droid, rather she looked back at Vader who stood there waiting. He had given her a weapon, and appeared to have no weapon on him to defend himself with.

She decided and lifting the blade took three quick steps towards Vader and made to strike him. It was a foolish attempt she realized too late as he drew his own light saber blocking hers with enough force that it flew from her hand and clattered to the floor behind her. Before she could retreat away he reached out and grabbed her injured wrist and yanked her arm up to where she was barely touching the ground. Anastasia gave a cry of pain as his grip tightened on her wrist. With her free arm she tried to pry his fingers loose but it was no use.

"Your hatred will serve you well, but you are foolish to think that you could ever defeat me." He tightened his grip further and Anastasia could hear the broken bones in her hand grating against each other as whatever healing had taken place was undone by him.

"You are just as stupid to think that I would do what you want!" Anastasia yelled at Vader half in anger and half in pain. His grip was like a metal clamp around her wrist and she was worried that if he tightened his hold on her any more he would break what few bones were not broken. Still she struggled hopelessly against him. If she could see his face she was sure that he would be smirking at how helpless she was at that moment. Anastasia noticed that out in the hallway two of the grey suited guards stood watching, looking as if they wanted to help her but unwilling to do anything against Vader. Against him, she was alone.

"You are beginning to realize that it is useless to resist. Become my apprentice; give yourself to the dark side. I can sense your inner conflict, your anger release it." Anastasia remained silent for a moment; it would be easier to simply give in, to do what he wanted. The idea had found itself at the forefront of her mind suddenly. The idea of what she could have if she only obeyed. Images flashed before her mind, legions of the men in white armor, storm troopers, at her command. A planet that was entirely covered in a city, thousands upon thousands of humans and aliens bowing down. She closed her eyes and shuttered slightly as the idea was urging her with more force to simply give in and call Vader Master.

"Because you want it, I refuse." Anastasia said her voice a shaky whisper of a sound, though the moment she spoke the image and forceful urge to submit vanished and she could sense Vader's anger and frustration. His grip on her wrist tightened suddenly and only when her wrist gave a loud crack followed by a cry of pain from Anastasia did he release her to collapse to the metal floor of her cell.

"You cannot resist forever." He turned and left the room the light saber that had fallen to the ground flew through the air to his open hand and the floating droid followed Vader into the hallway.

"Cut her meals in half." He said to the men who stood in the hallway.

"What of her injuries my lord?"

"Leave them unattended." Vader said as the man nodded and the metal door slid shut enclosing Anastasia in the small cell again. She didn't move from the spot she had fallen to. Even after Vader's suffocating presence vanished from the area she did not move. Her body was shaking with the pain of her newly broken bones. She couldn't feel anything aside from the pain in her arm, even the cold of the room was minute in comparison to the constant pain that throbbed through her arm.

As Anastasia lay on the floor of her cell in complete silence she let her mind wander away from being miserable in her pain. She tried to understand exactly what it was Vader wanted. He had been convinced when he first spoke to her that she had been taught about the force by a Jedi. She was not sure what either of those things were. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine what the force might be.

With her eyes closed she let go of the world around her and sighed slightly as she became aware of the three people standing at the end of the hall, they who were the closest to her. She opened her eyes for a moment and saw only her cell; it was not as if anyone was near her like she thought they must have been. Closing her eyes again she again tried to understand the force and her surroundings. She widened her focus and hundreds of pinpricks of life appeared in her mind's eye. It was very similar to her dream where she had seen the blue eyes only now that she was the one seeing these presences out she could give them form and light. Most all were human from what she could understand of this new world she was beginning to discover. Though as she tried again to widen her range of sight she became over whelmed with the sheer number of things she could see in that way. Her brows furrowed as she tried to make sense of all the lights and forms that shifted behind her closed eyes. She gave it another moment of trying to make sense but gave up as she began to develop a headache. She did not need to increase the areas of her body that hurt.

She opened her eyes and let the world of light she had been looking at slip away and released a breath she had not been aware she was holding. Perhaps that was the force, perhaps it was simply her imagination, and regardless of what it was she had no plans in changing her mind as to obeying Vader or becoming his apprentice. It was clear he led with fear and pain, only Anastasia did not understand why he would destroy Earth before he even tried to get her to accept what he wanted. Earth held all attachments for her. She realized that if he had threatened to destroy the Earth instead that she probably would have given in immediately. She had never been much of a strong person and until recently her attachments had been the easiest way to get her to do something. Anastasia had to admit that if Vader was intending to make it harder for people to manipulate her he had succeeded. Yet she was not sure that he had that in mind when destroying Earth.

It seemed forever had passed by before the door to her cell slid open again, standing in the doorway was the same man who had told her to eat. He held the tray of food and took a step into the cell. He set the tray down to the side and said quietly.

"You won't be getting another meal until tomorrow night, but here. It is not much but it will keep you from getting dehydrated." He said pulling a small plastic pouch from his jacket and setting it next to the tray. From the way it moved when he set it down Anastasia assumed that it was filled with water. She did not move or speak to him however, she only watched him with a wary look. He stood straight and said as he took a step back and out of the room.

"You would be better off just doing as Lord Vader says he will not simply let you die. He does not give up when he wants something. After all we came beyond the outer rim to find you." With that the door slid shut and Anastasia was once again left in the silence of her prison.

So Earth had been in the outer rim of their empire, which would probably explain why they had never bothered to come to Earth before. It was too far out of the way and too unimportant for them to be bothered with it.

Time crept by and an undetermined pace. Anastasia only knew that she had been left alone for a very long time. Out of sheer boredom and to serve as a distraction from the aching pain of her broken hand and wrist she would close her eyes and focus on the pinpricks of light that she sensed around her. She had become more comfortable with this task and she would slowly expand her gaze outward as she became comfortable with the current range of view. She often would wait until she could clearly define the lights into shapes and figures. It was a new way of seeing for her and she wondered why she never discovered it before. No she did not wonder as to why she had not discovered this inner sight before; she had not been looking for it. She had only looked for it because it was part of the reason Earth had been destroyed. She had the weight of an entire planet now on her conscious; she would find a way to avenge her lost home and all the people that died with it.

How she intended to avenge Earth she did not know. Only that at some point perhaps years in the future she would make Vader pay for destroying her home. Unfortunately even if she did get revenge for her planet there was nothing that could bring it back. She would only be able to exact revenge then in two ways. One if she intended to die along with Vader, or if she found herself a new home before destroying that man. She wondered exactly where she could go to call home. It would take far longer to discover a new home than it would be to simply kill Vader and die in the process.

Anastasia drifted off to sleep with the beginning of vendettas swimming through her thoughts. In her dreams she was once again in the command room of the space station looking out at a planet. Though where she had expected she saw a different planet. It was similar yes but the continents were different than those of Earth. She turned about looking around her but saw no one even Vader was absent from this dream. Then the scream of the green laser sounded and struck the planet destroying it as completely as it had Earth. Anastasia took several steps back covering her ears from the screams of the millions of people who perished with the planet. A familiar yet unknown presence appeared behind her and she turned to see a figure standing with a black cloak and hood covering their face in shadow. Yet there was the unmistakable smirk of pleasure across their face, whoever this was had enjoyed watching the planet die.

'You find the death of millions funny?!' Anastasia yelled at the figure though they did not notice her. She took several steps towards them and made to backhand the person when she noticed her arm was transparent. She paused and looked at herself as she was slowly vanishing. Her hands and feet were barely visible as she watched her translucency increase. The moment her feet disappeared completely the world around her collapsed and she was surrounded in darkness.

She could not see a thing and though she could feel her hands and feet she wanted visual confirmation that she had not disappeared. She took several shaking breaths trying to calm herself and focus as she had done when she was bored in her cell. She concentrated but was unable to see what was not before her.

'What are you doing?' A voice familiar yet foreign asked echoing through the black abyss around Anastasia.

'Trying to see.' She responded to the unknown voice. It did not sound angry or threatening so she did not think to fear it.

'You cannot manipulate the force into something it is not, calm yourself and open your eyes to what you feel is there not what you are wanting to be there.'

'Who are you? What do you mean the force? Show yourself!' Anastasia said turning about trying to find the owner of the voice but saw only darkness.

'The only one who blocks your vision is yourself. Your fear, and anger cloud your judgment and prevent you from seeing the light side.'

'Who are you? Are you Vader? Is this another trick?' Anastasia asked trying to control the shaking of her voice. Her arm was starting to hurt and she was not sure why.

'No I am not Darth Vader. I can only protect you as long as you refuse the dark side.' Suddenly the pain in Anastasia's arm became too great and it pulled her from her sleep as she found a white boot had come down on her arm.

Anastasia looked up at a Storm Trooper who stood over her. Once he was sure she was awake he removed his foot from her arm and said.

"Get up. Lord Vader has ordered you to be brought before him."


	3. Chapter 3

I'd Rather Kiss a Wookie Chapter 3: Lost in the night.

Anastasia was getting rather annoyed with how much shoving the storm troopers did when they thought you were walking slowly. Indeed it was not as if she was moving at an eager pace, she was on her way to see Darth Vader. They did not have to jab her in the back with the point of their guns though. Regardless of her destination she tried to pick up the pace some as she walked cradling her broken hand and wrist against her chest. The faster pace meant that there was more movement and less stability for her injured arm and she felt a jolt of pain with each step.

Upon reaching a door that did not simply slide open as they approached it the storm troopers stopped Anastasia and one typed a code into the door controls on the wall next to it. The room beyond was not well lit as the halls and rooms they had passed through were, and yet even as the door stood open the troopers did not move. One jabbed Anastasia in the back and said.

"Go in." She gave him a questioning look but she did not need to vocalize her questions. She could hear the deep rasping of Vader within the room somewhere. He was waiting inside and he wasn't going to let her have any sense of safety with the storm troopers. She swallowed and walked into the room entering only a few feet in hopes that she might be able to retreat if she was uncomfortable with what awaited. That turned out to not be an option for as soon as she entered the room the door slid shut with a resonating clang as it came down on the floor.

Now that the door was closed the room was even darker, Anastasia could hardly see. She was sure that this was the intent as she edged along the wall seeking a corner so Vader could not sneak up behind her.

"I sense your fear, fear of dreams trapped in darkness." Vader said his voice echoing throughout the room making it impossible for Anastasia to pinpoint where he was. That fact only made her wanting to find a corner all the faster. He could have been standing right next to her and in the darkness of the room she would have not been able to tell. Quick as lightening the force at Vader's command wrapped itself around Anastasia and pulled her away from the wall throwing her wildly into the room. She stumbled and fell to the ground giving a cry as she jostled her broken limb in the process of trying to not land on it.

"You cannot hide from me." Vader's voice echoed as Anastasia was struck in rapid succession, whether they were material objects or manifestations of the force at Vader's command she could not tell. She only knew that around her swirled objects of some kind and they struck hard. She was sure that she would be covered in bruises at the very least. She did not fear significant injure until she was struck in the ribs with such a force that the wind was knocked from her and a splitting pain shot through her chest. Anastasia tried to scramble away from what she imagined had to be the center of the room and towards the relative safety a wall offered. When she began to move though the same force that had pulled her to the center of the room dragged her back and to the ground by her neck. Anastasia gasped as the force holding her tightened around her neck momentarily before easing up and allowing her to breath.

She was shaking, she noted to herself as she curled into as small a ball as she could manage. She ignored the pain it caused to her broken bones. She could not leave where she had been dragged to but she could at least provide less of a target to be hit. She used her good arm to cover as much of her head as possible as the blows kept falling. She was scared; scared that she did not know where Vader was in the room. Scared that she could not move or see. Scared that she might die at Vader's hand.

Then she recalled what the voice had said in her dream. That she could not see when her judgment was clouded by fear. Though she could not control her shaking she tried to calm herself, she tried to reach out to the light side of the force and see.

"Your thoughts betray you and this Jedi who is training you. So he was the one to block your thoughts from me. Who is this jedi?" Vader asked when Anastasia did not answer she was struck by a series of blows that were all harder than what she had previously experienced.

"Tell me who the jedi is!" Vader said his tone one of anger and ill contained frustration.

"I don't know." Anastasia spoke her voice shaking with the pain her body suffered. She could tell her resolve was wavering. She was not sure it was worth fighting Vader tooth and nail anymore. He would win regardless, either he would get his wish and she would agree to be his apprentice or he would kill her in the pursuit of that goal. She had once been sure that death was the better option, now faced with that possibility she was unsure and indecisive. Most of all she hated herself for being so; she hated how weak she was. The entirety of Earth had died and yet she selfishly clung to life.

"Perhaps you require more time to understand, you are mine." With those final words a heavy blow hit the back of Anastasia's head knocking her out.

When Anastasia woke the fact that her body hurt was the first thing she registered, the second being that she was not alone in her cell.

"Do you think she will die?" A man said in a hushed voice. It occurred to Anastasia that they were talking about her, so instead of trying to move or open her eyes she remained still and listened.

"If she doesn't get some medical attention soon I would think she would."

"What's wrong with her arm?"

"It was broken when she arrived, and then Lord Vader broke her wrist. That was before he summoned her the other day then she came back looking like this and has been out since."

"What did she do to invoke his wrath? It must have been something terrible if he is dragging out killing her like this."

"She didn't do anything as far as I know. This is the girl that was taken from the planet Lord Vader tested the Death Star's main cannon on."

"Whatever she did to anger Lord Vader I hope for her sake she dies soon."

"At this point death would be an act of mercy."

"Yeah right, like I would do that and get on Vader's bad side. He wouldn't even take the time to use the force to choke me."

"Anyway you might as well leave the tray, she might wake up today." There was a slight shuffle and Anastasia heard them set the so spoken for tray down and the door gave a hiss as it shut. She opened her eyes now and saw that just inside the door was a tray with food and a cup of water. However she did not move towards it. The guards had been right she was going to die at the rate she was going. She was going to have to find a way to survive. She knew the easy way to survive, and she resisted it because it was what Vader wanted. She had been at a stalemate with Vader before the voice that Vader insisted belonged to a Jedi spoke to her in her dreams. She was not sure what the Jedi was or who, and she had suffered for that particular lack of information.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in her ribs and arm that ached more acutely than the rest of her bruises, she took a painful breath and tried to be as calm as possible.

"Jedi, whoever you are, speak to me. Your interference put Vader in a particularly piss ass mood that I got to deal with." As she spoke anger shattered the calm she had developed, it was only increased as she got no response in the minutes that passed. She sighed to herself, as she let her anger go, it wouldn't do her any good to be upset.

"I don't know why I thought anyone would hear me. That dream was probably just wishful thinking. I doubt that if there was a Jedi out there that they even care."

'Clear your mind and close it to Darth Vader.' The same voice from Anastasia's dream spoke through the room in so soft a way that she nearly missed it.

"Who are you? What is going on, why is Vader trying to get me to be his apprentice?" She asked out to the prison cell but received no answer. She didn't understand what it meant by closing her mind to Vader. True it seemed that Vader had been able to guess what she was thinking but surely he didn't have access to her mind.

"By the gods! You talk to me you don't talk to me. Make up your mind." She said in frustration but it occurred to her that perhaps he would not speak to her until he thought she was able to keep her thoughts from Vader. True or not she was not getting anywhere by doing nothing. She didn't know who this voice that spoke to her was or what they were after but for the moment if she had to choose it she would have gone with the disembodied voice.

So she did as the voice had instructed and cleared her mind and tried to keep herself closed off from Vader . She was not entirely sure how to do this but she decided that meditation was the best option.

So she meditated. And continued to meditate. As she did so she became aware of crew moving about the ship and had a vague inclination as to what was going on further out of her range of clear view. The longer she spent meditating the better this inner sight became for her. The moment she was able to sense Darth Vader where he was across the Death Star she shuttered his presence was more clear to her that it had been before. It was darker than those of the crew, it filled the area he was in and moved around him like the movements of silk in a gentle breeze. It was tauntingly powerful and menacing while all at the same time it held a strange factor of appeal. There was a power there that greatly exceeded anything that she had sensed on the Death Star.

Though in that moment that she came in contact with Vader's presence he also became aware that she could 'see' him. She was not aware of this, not until he spoke in her mind his voice echoing through her.

'You cannot resist the inevitable. This is your destiny.' Anastasia drew back away from his presence and shuddered for the moment he spoke in her mind that darkness that surrounded him invaded her mind with his words. The darkness which whispered of power and freedom left her feeling shaken.

Once free of Vader's presence she focused on closing her mind off from him, she was thankful as Vader did not pursue her and try to speak in her mind again. Indeed he had just said that as a reminder that no matter how far she reached out of her prison cell in this way she was still trapped and at his mercy.

Anastasia meditated on the force for countless hours, she would not allow herself to rest. She had to improve if she was to get any further aid from the Jedi that had spoken to her. The longer she meditated the less she was aware of where she sat in her cell. She realized that the force could show her images of events. She did not know if they had happened, were happening, or were going to happen but she watched them regardless.

Often she would see the destruction of Earth, the impact it had echoed through the force. She could see other things a temple burning in a city, an icy planet where four legged machines walked, people sitting in a circle dressed humbly in brown robes, machines marching against storm troopers, a beast that she came to understand to be a wompa. All images that confused her and expanded her understanding of what kind of world she now lived.

It was not until countless hours that she sensed the presence of the Jedi who had spoken to her. In the time since he last spoke to her she had developed what she liked to think of as a decent barrier to her mind. She lowered it and made contact with the presence of the Jedi.

'You have sensed Darth Vader's presence? You understand the darkness that surrounds him. This is the dark side of the force.'

'What should I do now?' Anastasia spoke to the Jedi through the force, all the while wondering where this Jedi was that he could reach her yet she could not find him.

Darth Vader had known that Anastasia was strong with the force when he first encountered her presence drifting blindly through it. Indeed he would have not found her when he did if he had not been hunting Jedi in the outer rim. She was an odd case as she was not quick with her reactions or terribly stable on her feet. She didn't seem to have any understanding of the technology of the Death Star and certainly was not gifted with fighting. No she had something he would have never expected to find in someone who was not trained in the ways of the force. She could commune with the force with easy. Such and easy that when Vader had taken her off of that pathetic excuse for a planet he was certain that there had to have been a Jedi training her.

Though that was only part of the reason he destroyed that planet. When she had answered his questions about the Jedi he sensed her to be telling the truth. At the time he was uncertain how great her skills with the force had been, so for good measure the planet had to be destroyed. If there was a Jedi there he certainly killed them. The other part of destroying the planet was to make her hate him; hate was a powerful tool for any Sith or would be Sith.

That goal had worked wonderfully for she did hate him, she feared him as well. Yet above all of these things that would have made a lesser person easy to manipulate she was resistant. She would not take the power he offered her. The time he tried to start her training, with the thought that if given a taste of power she would seek it, she had attacked him blindly. She had not tried to hide her thoughts or trick him. She attacked with her anger and in that blind move she failed herself. The frustration it gave Vader had driven him to crush her wrist. He had been under no illusions he knew that her hand was broken, he was well aware that he had caused more pain than necessary.

What had caused him the most frustration was not anything that she had done. It was when she slept and her mind suddenly became blocked to him. He knew her to be unable to do such a thing and when she woke her thoughts on the matter betrayed her. A Jedi had made contact with her, he did not find anything in her mind on whom this Jedi was though and that frustrated him the most. This Jedi knew better than to give her any information as to whom he was or where he was. At the time Vader had to check himself as he nearly killed his would be apprentice. Still he prevented the detention block staff from giving her any medical attention. The goal was to let her suffer until she gave in and became his apprentice. He had sensed doubt in her in regards to her refusing Vader. It would not be long now until he could begin training her.

Darth Vader had been listening to a mindless report on recent rebel uprisings against the Empire when he felt her mind connect with his for the briefest of moments. It surprised him really, for he had not thought she could reach out with her mind like that or over such a distance as he was on the other side of the Death Star. He realized as he reached out towards her that the connection was not an intended event and happened more of mistake than anything else. Regardless he spoke to her through the force.

'You cannot resist the inevitable. This is your destiny.' It was a simple statement, one that intended to make her think more on her situation. Hopefully it would make her realize that she only had one path to follow. As he expected she drew away from his presence after he spoke and she tried to close her mind to him. It was a pitiful effort as he could have seen her thoughts if he wished. Though, every time he did so it was a chaotic storm of thoughts questions and emotions. She had no control over her mind and even for a Sith it would prove problematic. He made a mental note that when she finally gave up trying to resist him that it would be the first thing that he taught her.

"Lord Vader. The Detention Block has requested you to go down at your earliest convenience." A man in the standard uniform said as he stood at attention.

"For what reason?" Vader asked looking down at the man.

"I am not sure Lord Vader; it has to do with the prisoner." At this Vader turned and walked towards the detention block. He reached out with his mind and found her partly blocked from him. She had improved experientially in the week since he last saw her. Though this barrier she had constructed could not stop him from seeing her mind, she was calm and blank. It was this that alerted him that she was up to something. When he last saw her mind it was a chaotic storm for her to be so calm was enough of a warning that something had changed. He silently cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on her. Somehow she had received instruction with the force.

When he arrived at the detention block the staff was nervous.

"What is the problem?" Vader asked turning towards the commander in charge.

"Lord Vader the prisoner, she has not eaten or moved from what we can tell in the past week. Each time we deliver her food we find the previous tray untouched. She looks as if she is going to die."

Vader walked past the staff and down the hallway hitting the button to Anastasia's prison cell. It slid open and he saw an emaciated version of the girl that was brought aboard the Death Star. She sat in the center of her cell legs crossed with her broken arm resting on them the room reeked from her unwashed and untreated injuries. She looked up at him with a fire in her eyes that showed she had no intentions of starving to death.

"I understand now Master, and I pledge myself to your teachings." She said her voice faint yet strong and unyielding.

( there y'all go chapter three. Please leave a review, let me know how you think I am doing with the story so far. If you have any ideas or things you want to see in future chapters don't be afraid to let me know)


	4. Chapter 4

I'd Rather Kiss a Wookie Chapter 4: The difference between Sith and Jedi

A month had passed since Anastasia pledged herself to be Darth Vader's apprentice. Though only two of those weeks had been spent training, the first two she spent in a Bacta Tank recovering from her condition that she acquired in the time Vader had spent 'persuading' her that being his apprentice was in her best interests. The two following weeks had been spent beginning her training. She soon understood that while she could connect with the force with great ease, manipulating it was a rather different matter and in that her skill lacked. Her skills with the light saber were shockingly inadequate. Vader had even commented on her inability to handle a light saber as one that was far more disturbing than her inability to manipulate the force.

Anastasia sat at her desk of the relatively small quarters she had been granted, she watched a screen that was embedded in the wall that showed symbols and terms of Basic the language that the empire used as the standard form of communication. She was in the process of getting caught up with her new life. She did not realize just how primitive Earth was in comparison to the Empire. It was a wakeup call when she left the Bacta tank. Anastasia had set it upon herself when she was not training with Vader to get caught up knowledge wise with the Empire.

"Excuse me Anastasia, Lord Vader is expecting you." The metallic voice of C4SB the protocol droid that had been assigned to her when she got lost the first time she was allowed to wander the halls of the Death Star sounded from by the door. Anastasia nodded and stood moving quickly to the dresser pulling out an imperial grey coat and put it on over her black turtle neck shirt. She had been provided with the uniform along with her room and a light saber. All 'perks' of being Vader's apprentice. She personally did not care for the imperial uniform but at the same time it was all that was available.

Once she had the jacket on and straightened she walked over to the door clipping her light saber to her belt as she went.

"Alright C4 lets go."

"This way please." C4SB said turning and walked out of the room into the hall. Its movements were stiff and it moved quickly making up for the short distance of its stride. Anastasia followed alongside C4 able to keep up with ease. Over the two weeks of her training she had developed more muscle strength than she ever had before. The ability to keep pace with a droid was a simple task. What she had not expected was what she found when she had C4 take her around the Death Star; there was a city within the station. She had spent hours wandering the lower levels of the Death Star in which the city existed. She had been surprised at the number of shops and bars which she came to know as cantinas she also found that these lower levels housed most of the personnel on the Death Star. Beneath those city levels was the station management levels. It had been rather shocking to find that personnel families living aboard the Death Star was not uncommon. As expected the upper levels of the station were restricted to those in service of the empires military.

Anastasia however was not permitted to the lower levels of the station unless she had the express permission of Darth Vader. She had one of the few rooms that was designated as military barracks. She had never heard of Vader wandering down to the lower levels of the station but she expected that he didn't seek social settings like that.

Upon arriving at the door to room FI4 one of the smaller training rooms for the Troopers that Vader had turned into their training room, the door slid open and C4 stood next to the doorway and waited. Anastasia walked into the room knowing that Vader had not yet arrived. She could sense him moving through the death star towards the training room. While Anastasia was not expected at the training room for another twenty minutes she had always had a habit of being early when she was expected somewhere.

The extra time in the training room also gave her a chance to meditate before Vader arrived. She had not yet used the force much and meditating before training aided her in connecting with the force. She had hopes that she would progress and be able to actually manipulate the force around her. She knew that Vader was quickly becoming frustrated with her lack of ability.

She sat on the floor and closing her eyes let herself drift away from the present and merge with the force. She did not focus on the life that surrounded her but rather sought to connect to the force so that she could bend it to her will. She found no difficulty in connecting to the force but to bend it to her will was a different matter. Each time she attempted to take hold of the force she found it like trying to catch smoke with her bare hands. Still she did not give up and kept trying to grab hold of the force.

She did not surface from her meditations until she felt Vader's presence just outside the door to the training room. She opened her eyes as her master walked in the training room. She stood and greeted Vader with a simple word.

"Master."

"I sense you have questions." He stated simply as he stood before her waiting. Anastasia faltered slightly, it was unsettling to her that he was able to do that; sense her thoughts.

"Ah, yes master. I was wondering about the force, I do not understand why I have been unable to manipulate it as you do."

"You lack focus and trust in the force. That is why you fail."

"Master I meditate at least ten times a day. I could tell where anyone on this station is. I do not lack focus."

"You are untrained in the ways of the force. What you consider focus is a narrow view."

"Narrow or not should I not be able to manipulate the force that I can connect with?" Anastasia had to jump back as Vader activated his light saber and attacked her. She fumbled with her saber and turning it on holding it up in time to block an attack. The force of the blow nearly caused Anastasia to lose grip of her saber and sever her own arm. The next blow caused her to stagger back and trip over a meditation mat, she fell backwards and Vader hit her blade out of her hands. He held the tip of his light saber towards Anastasia's throat and said.

"Your failure to trust in the force leads you to death. Along with your inability to control your emotions." Anastasia glared up at Vader, she listened to his instruction and yet she did not improve.

"I am trying." She said the frustration clear in her voice. Vader lowered his sword and said as he took a half step back.

"Clearly not, now pick up your light saber." Anastasia glared at Vader and picked up her light saber kicking the meditation mat out of the center of the room she hit the button turning it on. She had to duck as Vader turned quickly swinging his saber through the air where her neck would have been. Anastasia stumbled to the side as she blocked Vader's blade again. She knew he was going easy on her, she had no doubt that if he had been fighting for real that she would have been dead twice over by now. Regardless she was still being beaten down.

Vader was more skilled a fighter, not to mention that he was simply stronger physically. Anastasia blocked another strike which hit her saber with such a force that it pushed her own blade back to graze her shoulder burning through the imperial uniform and charring her skin. Anastasia gave a small cry as she was burned by her own blade.

"You must use your anger to give you strength." Vader said as he swung at Anastasia again. She was on the retreat now the burn on her shoulder caused her arm to feel weak. Exactly how much damage she had inflicted upon herself with her poor skills was yet to be determined. She could still move her arm so she hadn't hurt herself terribly bad this time. Indeed she had burnt herself with her light saber before. She had been lucky so far in that all of the damage she had inflicted upon herself was just to her skin.

They sparred for a while longer and the entirety of it was spent with Anastasia trying to block Vader's light saber and not cut off her own arm. When she was unable to block Vader would pull his strike at the last moment and would leave a burn behind. Anastasia blocked again and tried to take a step back but found herself pinned between Vader and the wall. He hit the light saber out of her hands and said.

"You need to be aware of your surroundings. You focus so much on defending yourself against me and you leave yourself open to be pushed into traps and ambushes." Anastasia nodded slightly her breath heavy as she tried to control the shaking in her arms from the burns. Vader studied her for a moment then lowered his blade and took a step back. He had to remind himself that Anastasia had no training before she became his apprentice. While he was impressed by her ability to connect with the force and sense the world around her it was a thin silver lining to her inability with the other skills a padawan would be comfortable with.

"Your training is done for the day. Go treat your burns and work on using the force."

"Master?" Anastasia asked as Vader turned to leave the room. He paused turning his head slightly to look at her over his shoulder he said.

"What is it?"

"I was looking at the database and I found myself confused by the mechanics of droids. Would it be alright if I went down to the mechanics center? It's below the imperial levels."

"Why not have your droid explain it to you?"

"I asked but C4 admitted that his knowledge was lacking with such information."

"Very well. You have my consent to go to the mechanics center in your free time." With that he left. Anastasia grimaced in pain as she picked up her light saber and clipped it to her belt. When Vader left C4 had come into the room and said.

"Goodness! Miss you are injured again." Anastasia sighed as she walked towards the droid and the door.

"Yea lets head back to my room. I have the medicine there."

"I certainly hope that Lord Vader is not being too hard on you. With you spending all of your time training."

"It's not that is he being hard on me C4, I am not improving." C4 did not comment after that but led Anastasia back to her room where she grit her teeth as she removed her now ruined grey jacket and eased her black turtle neck off to reveal near half a dozen light saber burns. C4 walked over to the dresser and picked up a metal tin and brought it to Anastasia. It was filled with an ointment that helped to heal burns.

"Thank you C4." Anastasia said as she took the tin and began to apply it to the fresh burns. She had several other burns that had happened in previous training sessions. She cringed as the ointment began to ease the pain of the burns. Once she had treated her fresh burns she put a smaller amount on some of the older burns that had yet to completely heal. She grimaced at the sight of her own arms covered in burns. They were turning into ugly red scars, they would stay with Anastasia for the most of her life, she knew that if she wanted to prevent further scars she would have to improve with her fighting skills.

Setting aside the ointment she took a fresh turtle neck from the dresser and pulled it over her head. She glanced at the clock that silently kept time for those aboard the Death Star. It was late in the afternoon if she was going to make it down to the mechanics center she would have to go then.

"C4 we are going to the mechanics center."

"The mechanics center? Oh please don't have me dismantled Anastasia. Have I done something wrong?" Anastasia laughed slightly at the droids concern and said.

"No C4 I am not going to have you dismantled. I just want to talk with the mechanics about droid construction. We never had anything like that on my planet so I don't know anything about it."

"This way then!" C4 said leading out of the room and down the hall. Anastasia sighed slightly and followed the droid. She was beginning to wonder if she was ever become accustomed to the sheer vastness of the world.

Anastasia had normally gone around in full imperial uniform; it had helped her blend in with the other personnel of the station. She did not blend well with the personnel mainly because she was a women and it seemed that there was a sever lack of female officers on the Death Star. Now that she had forsaken her grey jacket she was even more noticeable to the other officers as she walked around with her grey pants and black turtle neck.

She suspected that it was also odd for someone to be led around by a droid. Though no one had stopped her yet so she was also under the impression that they had been made aware of her presence on the Death Star. If there had been no formal announcement about her she knew that rumors had spread. What those rumors were she was not sure. She had not yet gotten to know any of the people aboard the Death Star, and she honestly was fearful of venturing out and trying to befriend anyone. Depending of the rumors that had spread she knew that she would be treated very differently. It was clear from her time spent around Darth Vader that people feared him.

Upon arrival at the mechanics center Anastasia entered leaving C4 to follow her. The center looked more like a warehouse than a center for development and construction. A few humans looked up from their work but did not greet Anastasia or question her they simply returned to their work. Anastasia saw several alien races in the room most notable was the tall furry creature that looked a lot like big foot was supposed to. She wondered if that was how the urban legend came about. She did not seek their attention though and instead of getting the attention of anyone at hand she wandered over to a table. Upon which sat a half-finished construct of some sort, parts lay around a base set up that looked infinitely complex with all the wires and pieces on it. A particular gear lying next to the main construct caught her eye for the smooth curves of the thin arms that held the outer and inner ring together. She picked up the gear and turned it over in her hands examining the small details that covered it.

"Oh Hello I am C4SB, human protocol droid…" Was the only warning Anastasia got as a large hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. It was one of the large furry creatures and as soon as it had turned Anastasia around and saw that she had touched the contraption on the table it gave a roar at her and snatched the gear from her before shoving her away from the table.

"Hey! Back away miss!" A man in a grey uniform said pointing his gun at the furry creature. He was going to shoot the beast Anastasia realized. The furry creature roared in an angry tone at the man raising its arms up in frustration. It was then that Anastasia saw its hand were cuffed together, this creature was a prisoner aboard the Death Star.

"No. You will not harm it." She said turning on the man who looked quite shocked. The creature was still giving angry roaring sounds.

"That wookiee will rip off your arms!"

"You would kill it!"

"It will die either way. Why risk your life for this beast?"

"All life is to be cherished! It is not for you to decide who has the right to live or not!" She yelled at the man anger surfacing. Everyone aboard this ship had such a disregard for life that angered Anastasia more than anything. At the word of one man did an entire planet die and it was done at the hands of men who did not think twice about it. Now they were going to kill this Wookiee because it had gotten protective of its project that Anastasia had touched. It was that which angered her more, this Wookiee which worked for the empire was going to be so carelessly discarded.

The shelves around the room rattled as if a tremor went through the ship. She didn't seem to notice though, as everyone in the room was looking nervously around the room as tools rattled off the shelves. Even the upset Wookiee had quieted down the man who was holding the blaster gun was shifting nervously.

'Anastasia…'

"You think that because you are with the empire that you can just do whatever the fuck you want! It is not your job to choose who lives or dies! There is only one god who can make those choices and his name is Death! Are you Death?"

'Control your anger…' The voice echoed in Anastasia's mind as she went on her rage fueled rant that was directed at the man. The air was becoming thick with her emotions the man who held the blaster gun swallowed his fear and said.

"Get out of the way or I will shoot you as well as the Wookiee." The comment made Anastasia's rage break free within her and she wanted to crush the man before her.

'Anastasia! Cease your action.' The voice rang through her thoughts far louder than before. She ignored it and said to the man.

"Shoot me? You will shoot me? I will kill you like you and your lot killed my home and family." Anastasia said the blaster that the man held imploded and the man dropped it staggering back away from her and the wookiee. She took a step forward possessed by the silky essence of the force she was guided by her anger.

It guided her to kill this man that dared threaten her, to take her anger and use it to destroy this man which was a symbol of death to her planet and her breed of humans. She held her hand out at the man her palm open and slowly began to close it. She envisioned that her hand was around his throat and she was crushing the life from him. She found the force to respond to her anger it surrounded her and moved through her. Not the light that she sensed that radiated from those she saw through the force, but rather the dark cloud of silk that surrounded only one other.

"Stop." Vader's voice sounded commanding as he entered the center. It was the sight of him that stopped Anastasia. The sight of her master caused her anger to bury itself deep inside her very soul. As she did so her hold on the force vanished and she looked down at the fearful eyes of the man she had nearly killed. His hand was now at his throat as he gasped for air.

"What happened here?" Vader turned on one of the workers who had been watching the events transpire.

"The wookiee disrespected the lady. When the commander here tried to shoot the wookiee as is standard with the slaves. She got angered and the shelves began to shake and the blaster gun crumbled, then she began to choke the commander as you do when someone has disappointed you Lord Vader."

Vader looked from the man to Anastasia. She stood unmoving waiting for Vader to give some command to her. Yet he only watched her expectantly, she did not need to be told that it was time to go. She walked forward as she passed the commander she said looking down at him.

"Do not harm the Wookiee." She strode quickly past the others in the mechanics center and followed Vader out with C4 walking on stiff legs behind them.

For several minutes Vader said nothing as they walked. Anastasia opened her mind to Vader and reached out to him for she felt too much shame in her actions to speak. Though she had left her mind open to Vader he was closed off from her. She could not sense his emotions and could not tell what he might have been thinking. Anastasia was forced to speak if she wanted any hope of a reaction from Vader.

"Master…" She said in a soft voice as she followed him through the hallways. She was not sure where he was leading her all of the hallways looked the same to her. When Vader suddenly stopped walking she ran right into his back. Anastasia took a step back to have Vader turn slightly and say.

"You fear that I am disappointed."

"Yes Master." She said softly. Vader waved his hand and a door slid open then walked through Anastasia followed him. The room was one of the larger suites that were reserved for generals and high ranking officials. The first room consisted of a sitting room and there was a door against the far wall which she assumed led to the rest of the quarters. As soon as she entered the room the door slid shut blocking out C4. Vader walked over to one of the couches and sat giving an audible sigh he gestured for Anastasia to sit on the couch across from him. She awkwardly sat and waited for him to speak. It was strange to see Vader in such a normal setting. Even stranger to see him sitting and relaxed, everywhere else on the ship he had been straight backed and formal with those he was around. Seeing him now made him appear more human, a fact which was easy to forget when looking at the man covered from head to toe in black.

"Why did you want to save the Wookiee?" Vader eventually asked, Anastasia was not sure how to respond to that question. Regardless she was still trying to figure out if she was in trouble or not.

"I was angry…"

"I know how you felt; I could sense your feelings across the Death Star. Your rage was passionate, more so than when your planet was destroyed. That wasn't what I was asking. I want to know why you felt that way for the Wookiee." Anastasia hugged her knees and said.

"Because I could save him. This whole ship has a disturbing disregard for life. No one thought twice about destroying my planet when you gave the order. They were going to kill that Wookiee because it had pushed me away from its work. It disgusts me how natural killing is for everyone on this ship." As Anastasia explained she found it infuriating that Darth Vader hid his face behind the mask, she couldn't get any sort of idea as to what he was thinking. Any hope she had of seeing regret or guilt for destroying Earth was blocked by his stupid mask.

"Control yourself; you will not so foolishly lose control of your actions again. This is a battle station and as such death is a natural part of its functions. Am I understood?" Vader asked Anastasia forced herself to control her anger, giving a sigh once she had successfully buried her anger she said.

"Yes Master."

"You were clouded by your emotions and were unable to hear me through the force, which is what you must never allow to happen. However, you have finally become able to manipulate the force. You must practice letting your emotions free in a controlled manor and manipulate the force to your will not the urgings of your emotions."

"Master, are there different kinds of force one can use? When I was using the force against that man it did not feel like the force I have come to know. It was not luminous but darker almost silky instead of soft. The only person who has had the force around them in that way was you."

"Yes there are multiple sides of the force, the light side and the dark side. We are Sith and as such we embrace the dark side of the force. It give us greater strength allowing us to use our emotions to fuel our power and give us focus."

"What does the light side give?" Anastasia asked wondering what the true difference was. It seemed that the dark side would be the evil side of the force. Or at least on Earth darkness was always something related to evil.

"The light side is weaker than the dark side, it requires emotionlessness and those who follow its path must give up all attachments and are never permitted things like wealth, friendship, or love." Vader said watching his apprentice carefully now. He had suspected several times that she was not using the dark side of the force whenever she was interacting with it. She had a frustrating ability to keep herself calm and passive even when she had more than enough reason for anger or hate. He had destroyed her planet to make her hate him; so that when she used the dark side of the force she could draw upon her hate and find the connection easier. Only this had not been the case when he taught her, she was so still and calm. Unlike when she had been imprisoned and was unwilling to be his apprentice. Each time he had sought her out in the force he would find her calm, collected. He knew her capable of great emotion, her demonstration in the mechanics center was proof of that. He did not understand however why she buried her emotions, for that was the only way she was able to keep calm. For some reason she had buried her hate and anger so deep within herself that it only surfaced when there was a life in danger and she could help it. A trait far to akin to a Jedi for his liking, she had the makings of a strong Sith. Yet at the present state she was equally likely to become a powerful Jedi. He would have to force her to use the dark side far more, have her dive so deep into the power of the dark side that she could never surface to the light. She had to fall like he did.

( here is the next chapter a little longer than the previous two so I hope you enjoy. I will hopefully get the next chapter up within the week but I have a lot to do before next Monday so It may not be a very long chapter.)


	5. Chapter 5

I'd Rather Kiss a Wookiee Chapter 5: Shades of Grey

It occurred to Anastasia that while there were two distinct sides to the force that she did not fall directly into either side. Several days had passed since the incident at the mechanics center. Since then Vader had altered how he taught her. It often involved her having to meditate and free her emotions so that she could use the force. He made her start small, working with objects that she had to lift and move around. In her free time she would challenge herself with trying to lift water from a glass and bend it into shapes. This proved a challenging task for her that often ended up with her having to clean up water off the floor.

In those days she had also gone down, in what time she was not training or watching the holoscreens, to the mechanics center. It was more to check that the Wookiee she had defended was still alright. She was infinitely happy when she saw that the Wookiee had not been bothered since she had defended it. She could not speak to the Wookiee and did not understand a word it was saying but she did not have to guess what it meant when it gave her a hug on sight.

Indeed this was the case today as the others she had gone and visited. Upon entering the mechanics center and wandering over to the table that the Wookiee worked at, she would receive a greeting hug. Anastasia sat on a crate that was next to the table and looked at what the wookiee was working on. It had a new contraption in the works though she had no idea what it would become with all of its gears and circuit boards there was a maddening complexity to the piece. C4 stood off to the side waiting for instruction that Anastasia rarely gave. The wookiee gave a series of low growls and sounds.

"Excuse me Miss Anastasia, but the wookiee says that it has a gift for you, and that his name is Tarruffa." Anastasia looked over at C4 and asked quiet surprised.

"You speak Wookiee?"

"Of course, I am programmed with over three million languages."

"Can you tell me what he is saying?" Anastasia asked then looked at Tarruffa and said.

"If that is ok with you, I am sorry but I can't understand what you are saying." Tarruffa gave a shrug and several more growled words.

"He says that it is fine, but you should learn the language." Anastasia nodded and said.

"I will study it. What is this?" She asked as Tarruffa handed her an object, it was flat and had a plastic top and bottom. It wasn't until she took it from Tarruffa that she realized it was a book. She opened it up to find it blank. In the front cover had been several slips of paper with mechanical notes on them and in the margins were doodles Anastasia had done. She had not thought that Tarruffa would keep the notes as they had been in a trash bin before she had doodled on them.

"You kept these?"

"He says that you should draw more and the book is so you have paper to draw on." Anastasia looked at the book and quickly wipes away the tears that stung her eyes. She had never expected to be able to paint let alone draw again in her new life as Vader's Apprentice. Now she was being given a piece of who she used to be on Earth.

"Thank you." She said wrapping her arms around Tarruffa burying her face into the brown fur of the wookiee's shoulder. Tarruffa patted her back before setting her right on the crate she was sitting on. Anastasia looked over and saw the commander who she had her 'disagreement' with looking over at her and Tarruffa with a disapproving expression. While she had ensured the safety of Tarruffa , he was still expected to work as he was still a slave of the empire.

Anastasia ignored the commander and snagged a pen off of the work table and began to scratch an image on the paper. She missed being able to draw she realized as she applied the ink onto the paper forming shapes and shades. She sat for near a half hour in silence as Tarruffa worked on his contraption and she on her drawing. She paused for a moment as she sensed Vader touch her mind, immediately she dropped her barrier and opened her mind to hear him through the force.

'I will be leaving the Death Star for a time. In my absence you are to work on your skills.'

'Master, am I permitted to visit the mechanics center while you are gone?'

'Yes you may visit your wookiee friend. I sense a great deal of happiness in you, what has happened.'

'Tarruffa gave me a sketch book, Master.'

'Do not squander your time while I am gone.'

'Yes Master.' Anastasia responded as Vader withdrew the connection. She put her mental barrier up again and came back to the present location.

"Miss Anastasia?" C4 asked, it was not a question of concern but rather asking if she had heard what he had said.

"Sorry C4 what did you say?"

"Tarruffa is wondering if you have to go. They are nearly done with their work for the day."

"Oh yes, I should go. Thank you so much for the book." She said hopping off of the crate waving at Tarruffa as she left with C4 following behind her.

When she arrived back at her room Anastasia went to the holoscreen and searched for the wookiee language. When she began to study she was amazed at the sheer subtlety of the different sounds of the words. She realized how complex the language actually was but to understand it she was going to have to spend months studying.

She sighed and sat on a meditation mat that she had on the floor the holoscreen still playing the sounds and forms of the language. It was then that an idea occurred to Anastasia, she had used it to help her remember things when she was in school. It wasn't really anything special but constant repetition of what she was trying to learn. Her theory was not that she could simply remember the language by repetition but that she could increase her learning curve by meditating on the language through the force.

It was challenging for her to focus so clearly on one thing, when she meditated she would let her mind wander with the flow of the force. It would carry her to different places and times; when she reached past the Death Star it was not the present she would see. Or at least she did not think that it was the present. She was able to remain focused on the wookiee language only for a while. Thought with the absence of Darth Vader aboard the Death Star she found herself wanting to let her mind wander.

She looked beyond the boundaries of the Death Star seeking out into the vastness of space hunting, for what she hunted she did not know. She faltered slightly as her head began to hurt from the strain of extending her view beyond what she was comfortable with. Gritting her teeth together she did not withdraw from the gaze she now sought after. She could sense several things in the deepness of space, a brightness that could have been a planet only the shape was incorrect for a planet. Through the force it looked more like a giant wedge. Upon that wedge she could sense Darth Vader, where upon the ship she did not know. Only that the silk that she had come to know as the dark side of the force was there. Beyond the ship were pinpricks of force light, planets or ships she could not tell they were too small for her sight.

"Miss Anastasia, Commander Mallock is at the door for you." C4 spoke causing Anastasia to surface from her meditation. She made a mental note for herself to be aware of where she was while she meditated. It had happened a few times now that she was meditating and not aware of someone approaching. Regardless as she surfaced from her meditation she became acutely aware of a ravenous hunger that hit her like a bucket of cold water.

"Yes Commander what is it?" She asked standing and stretching her arms over her head easing the stiffness in her body from sitting so long.

"Well no one had seen you since Lord Vader left the ship. We were concerned for your well-being." The formal tone that Commander Mallock spoke with made Anastasia roll her eyes. It was clear that no one was actually concerned for her.

"You mean Darth Vader told you to keep an eye on me. Don't try and pretend that you care." The commander looked slightly flustered and said.

"Perhaps you would care to join me and the rest of the crew in the mess hall for the evening meal."

"Fine, come on C4." Anastasia said walking out to the hallway and turned waiting for the Commander to lead the way. She had never actually been to the mess hall; she had been too consumed by her studies to make her way to the hall. She had all of her meals brought up by a droid and she had come to know the selection of food on the Death Star to be very dull and bland like that of the food served in the prison block.

The Commander guided Anastasia to the mess hall; the first thing that she registered upon entering the mess hall was the noise. The second thing that assailed her senses was the smell; the air was full of the smell of spices and different foods. It was the smell of cooked meat that made her stomach growl.

"The tables are over there against the wall, you can get whatever you want. I advise staying away from the grilled Bantha. Come join us over there at that table when you are ready." The commander said before wandering off to sit at a table with other officers who greeted him. Anastasia frowned slightly but wandered over to the tables loaded with food. She took a plate from a stack and wandered down the row of tables unsure what to take, the food was foreign to her and she did not recognize much of anything. She eventually settled on a dense bread roll and some thin cuts of dark meat that had been grilled.

"You went with the grilled Bantha. Well I hope you like it; no one else I have met has cared for it." The commander said as Anastasia sat at the table with the other officers. One of the men looked at Anastasia and said

"Commander I don't think you have introduced this young lady to us."

"This is Anastasia; she was brought on from the last system we visited. Anastasia this is Connor, Terrok, and Heim. Officers in my unit." Each of the named officers gave a wave or nod indicating who they were.

"So you came from the system that we were last at? Has it been hard to get adjusted to living here?"

"I am from Earth, and no it has not been that hard adjusting."

"Terribly uncivilized system it was. Good thing they are out of their misery." Anastasia paused before taking a bite of the dense roll she had. Did she hear him right? He thought it was a good thing that Earth had been destroyed.

"What did you say?" She asked setting her roll aside and giving the man a look that demanded explanation.

"Well, the system was so far behind technologically that it was a very primitive race of humans. Not to mention that it would have been taken by thugs soon with how far it is into the outer rim."

"So you agree with the death of seven billion people because they were not as advanced as you?"

"Well yes, civilizations like that weakened the republic and they weaken the empire. Why not purge weakness when possible?"

"It is not for you to decide who lives or dies! Earth may not have been as advanced with technology but we were rich with culture and life!"

"Hey it's not like it was your planet, everyone knows you were on mission there hunting Jedi scum." Anastasia glared at the man, so that is how Vader explained her sudden presence in the Death Star. She had been on mission and was just coming back.

"I don't really care about the concept of home planet. The mass destruction of people, any people is one to be disgusted with. On that planet they had a war that consumed the entire planet in chaos. It was started by one man deciding that a religious group was weak and disgusting. By the time the war ended, several places of the planet were so poisoned by the weapons of war that no one could live a healthy life there. It does not matter if you are better in some way or another; it is not a choice anyone has the right to make."

"If you hate how the empire is run then take it to the emperor. Though he was the one who had the Death Star constructed."

"Perhaps I will take this to the emperor." Anastasia said standing and leaving her plate of untouched food along with the officers. She made her way out of the mess hall heading back to her room she did not speak to C4 or any of the other officers that she passed. As she passed in the hallways the officers made a bubble around her like there was some invisible force that kept them separated from her. Anastasia grudgingly acknowledged that this was the same treatment that the staff of the Death Star gave Darth Vader. She was entrapped by her anger and she couldn't be bothered to worry about those around her. She did not want to repeat what happened in the mechanics center and the only way she could guarantee that was to remove herself from her frustration and anger.

"Hey! Anastasia, what the hell do you think you are doing?" The commander said following after her. His call after her caused several of the personnel walking the hallway to stop and watch as they went. Anastasia however did not stop walking and even quickened her pace. She could feel the darkness of the force coiling inside her like a viper about to strike. She could feel the tingle in her hands as the urge to choke the life from the commander became increasingly irresistible.

Anastasia turned down the hallway to the personnel quarters, which were largely unused and thus contained far fewer people. It was half way down this hallway and half way to Anastasia's room that the commander caught up with her. Grabbing her shoulder he stopped her and turned her to face him.

"What was that all about? You had no right to speak to commanding officers in that way."

"I don't give a shit if they were the emperor or a commanding officer, they are no better than trash if they can't see the value all life shares."

"That is it! Lord Vader left you under my charge, you will show the proper respect for you commanding officers and go back down there and formally apologize to those men. That is an order."

"An order?" Anastasia said as she struggled to contain her anger, it was a losing battle. She could sense the dark silk of the force surround her and guide her to destroy this man who dared to give her orders. She only obeyed Darth Vader and that was only due to the necessity for survival. She would not however submit to those weaker than her. She gave up on trying to remain in control of the force, her rage at this commander who dared to give her orders mixed with her rage that was directed towards the officers who thought it was a good thing that Earth had been destroyed. She held up her hand and closed it in a quick motion twisting her wrist slightly. The force responded and coiled around the commander's neck crushing his windpipe and snapping his neck before he could even asphyxiate.

"I do not take orders from the likes of you." She said her voice a menacing growl as the man's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed on the ground. Her anger remained around her for a moment longer, after a moment it faded away as quick as morning dew. Anastasia looked down at the corpse in horror. She remembered all too clearly what she had done; it was an act that she did not believe herself capable of. Yet here the proof lay on the floor before her.

Anastasia ran back the way she had come heading for the lift. She slid around the corner and almost ran into C4.

"Oh Miss Anastasia! Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, the mechanics center." She said pushing C4 to turn around and then ran past the droid. The droid tried to keep up though its stiff joints would not allow for fast movement. When she reached the lift she hit the button thankful that it had been sitting idle on her floor. She did not wait for C4 as she went down the levels of the Death Star, she couldn't wait.

Anastasia had not planned for this so soon but it could not be avoided now. She had screwed up and now she could not remain aboard the Death Star. The only plus side was that Darth Vader, the biggest challenge for her escape was not currently aboard the Death Star. As she waited to reach her floor she tried to calm herself and search through the force trying to locate her absent Master. He was beyond her range of view as was the wedge shaped ship. That was good, if he was not near then she could focus on what she needed to do. Of course it was only going to work if she got help. Originally she had intended to take C4 with her but it occurred to her later that Vader could be monitoring her through the droid. She had only been able to keep her plans secret by banishing them from her mind and only ever thinking on them when she knew Vader to be occupied.

The lift slowed to a stop and the doors opened, Anastasia shot out of the lift past several people and went down the hall to the Mechanic's Center. It was late but thankfully the center was still open which meant Tarruffa was still there working. She took a deep breath to calm herself before entering the center and she casually made her way over to where Tarruffa with his dark brown fur that had patches of grey on his shoulders sat. She did not sit when she reached Tarruffa but rather leaned against the edge of the table pretending to look at the contraption that he was working on. Under her breath she said.

"I am leaving; do you want to come with?" Tarruffa looked at her for a moment as if trying to decide if she was serious or not. It was a risky plan, Anastasia knew this, but Tarruffa was a slave of the empire. She hoped that since she had aided him in the past that now he would help her.

"I don't know how to fly a ship, I need your help." Anastasia said in a whisper though the fear and panic was not hidden in her hushed tone. When Tarruffa replied Anastasia was instantly glad that she had studied his language with the aid of the force. She understood nearly all of what was said. Though, she had been meditating for several days on the language with the aid of the force.

"Ok, let's get out of here. You know the way to the hanger yes?" Tarruffa gave a small nod to her question and led her out of the mechanics center. Thankfully none had been paying attention to them in the center. Anastasia followed next to Tarruffa trying to make it appear as if she was leading him. She had only been to the lower levels once before and in that visit she had not seen a wookiee wander about. She only hoped that it was not so odd a thing that they would be stopped.

What she did not expect was how empty the halls that Tarruffa chose to go down were. She was incredibly surprised when Tarruffa opened a final door and they found themselves in the hanger. Tarruffa spoke in a quiet voice gesturing to a rather large looking ship its wings folded up. Storm troopers filled the hanger walking about under the direction of a few dozen men in imperial uniforms.

"I see the ship, but how are we going to get to it?" Tarruffa gave another series of low growls and Anastasia had to give him a look that silently asked him to repeat, which thankfully he did.

"Ok I understand. I'll get a distraction going, and you are going to get the ship ready." Anastasia left the seclusion of the doorway and moving low she made her way behind a stack of crates towards the far wall of the hanger. The wall of crates did not take her as far as she had hoped it would, regardless she did not need to move farther than where she had made it too. She took a deep breath and extended her hand out before her concentrating on one of the smaller ships that looked like it might have been some sort of battle ship. She had very little practice in force combustion, she almost wondered if she had any hope of actually causing the ship to go up. Through the force it was easy to locate the fuel cell that the ship had.

A group of storm troopers walked past the crates Anastasia was behind and she had to quickly withdraw her hand and duck down to avoid being seen. She waited until they had moved far enough away that she did not risk being seen when she poked her head up just enough to see past the crates. She reached out again focusing all of her will power on the fuel cell. All she needed was a good spark, a spark to set the fuel.

"Hey you!" A storm trooper yelled at Anastasia as she focused on the ship. It was then that she got her so desired spark and the ship blew up. Causing the majority of the storm troopers to rush over to the craft to try and put it out before it damaged anything else. Anastasia looked to see the storm trooper that spotted her heading for her still. She turned and ran heading back along the wall she could hear the trooper running after her on the other side of the crates. She turned around the corner of the crates and slid past the trooper who was not expecting her to dash out in front of him.

Anastasia made her way toward their so agreed upon ship, she hadn't seen when Tarruffa made his move but since he was nowhere in sight she assumed he was on the ship already.

"Grab her!" The storm trooper yelled as he ran after Anastasia. They weren't shooting which confused Anastasia she would have expected them to. Then the crushing weight of Vader's presence fell upon her. The sudden weight on her shoulders caused her to nearly collapse. She did not have that much farther to go. She staggered forward the last few steps before collapsing on the ramp to the ship.

'You cannot escape me.' Vader's words rang through her mind as she struggled to her feet under the force pressure. A storm trooper grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back. Grabbing her lightsaber Anastasia turned and swung the blade at the trooper. It cut through his arm and shoulder, Anastasia succeeded in also cutting off a good chunk of her hair. The trooper yelled and fell back, to reveal more troopers heading at the ramp. Anastasia went the rest of the way up the ramp and yelled at Tarruffa.

"Go!" She slammed her fist on the button next to the ramp and watched it slowly go up as she went towards the front of the ship where Tarruffa was at the controls in the process of taking off. He looked at her and growled out several words.

"Anywhere, wherever you think we will be safe. Just don't tell me, I don't want to know." She said as she sat in the chair next to him shaking as she struggled to block Vader from reading her mind. As the ship left the Death Star hanger they were confronted with the view of a large wedge ship and several of the little ships that were the same style as what Anastasia had destroyed.

'You belong to me, return to you place at my side. Do so and I will allow your Wookiee to live.' Anastasia put her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block out Vader's words. Several of the alarms in the ship began to go off as the fighter ship buzzed around them. Then in one massive jolt the fighters were gone, the Death Star was gone, and Vader's presence was gone. Anastasia lifted her head and looked out to see the stars streaking past the ship. It reminded her of Star Trek when the enterprise when to warp speed. There were no limits for Anastasia now, and that in and of itself was a concept more frightening than having to stay on the Death Star as the apprentice of Darth Vader.

(chapter five is up and yes I made a connection to Star Trek oh the horror! It's close to Christmas so give me the gift of reviews.)


	6. Chapter 6

I'd Rather Kiss a Wookiee: Chapter 6 How we Change

Darth Vader sat in his rooms on his ship the super star destroyer; he was closing in on the slowly growing rebel alliance. They had not become a problem until recently when they were able to get a Jedi to support their cause. A Jedi who had saved the pathetic rebel alliance more than once when Darth Vader had them cornered. Indeed in the past few years he had been tasked with eliminating these rebels, a task which was near impossible. The rebels were like Borcatu hiding in the outer rim, and always on the move to remain hidden.

Darth Vader picked up the book for what felt like the millionth time that day and flipped its cover open to reveal pages that were scratched and marked with ink. It was the 'sketch' book he had found in Anastasia's room after she fled the Death Star. It had drawing of several things that were around the Death Star. Many of the drawings were of the wookiee she had befriended, the same wookiee that had made her escape possible. He was not sure what it was about her running that peeved him so. He had after all given her more than enough reason to flee from him when the chance came. He flipped farther through the book and came across sketches of places he had never seen before. He assumed that these were placed from her home world. While other sketched he recognized she had a rather complex drawing of Courisant and the Jedi Temple. What bothered him the most is that more than anything else she had drawn him, or at least his mask that he wore.

He was about to flip the page when he paused, the paper felt thicker than the other sheets. Testing the paper provided two sheets that had become stuck together. Careful to not tear the paper he pulled them apart to reveal a drawing he had until now overlooked. The reaction he had to seeing that face again was mixed. It brought back memories of happy times and memories of times he hated. It had been years since he had seen these faces. Padme and Anakin, never did he expect her to have had visions of his past. Though there was no other way for her to have seen this image of a younger version of him holding the ever beautiful Padme in his arms. He almost tore the page out to destroy it but stopped himself. He could not destroy this remnant of Padme, for he had lost her to his anger once. The force had, through Anastasia, given him part of his love back if only in a pen drawing. He would not so rashly destroy it had he had Padme. He sat there simply looking at the picture following the strokes of the pen that had recreated the image of the wife he lost so many years ago. It did make him wonder if Anastasia knew that he had been Anakin before the Empire. Though nowhere in the book did it contain any clue as to that being true.

Vader flipped closed the book and set it aside before exiting his rooms and heading for the main deck. A disturbance in the force caused this action. Something was happening or would happen soon at the Death Star. Vader absently wondered if Tarkin had actually caught some rebels. As he walked he absently searched the force for a sign of Anastasia, she had in the six years following her escape from the Death Star become quite good at hiding herself physically and through the force. While this had kept her hidden from the Emperor it did nothing to hide the rumors of a Jedi who survived Order 66 and became the main force behind the rebellion.

Anastasia shifted slightly in the crate she sat in, it was a small thing and not terribly comfortable either as it was the same sort of metal crate that the empire used to ship blasters in. These of course had been gutted so that they could fit a person. It was a haymaker plan and was ineffective for what they were doing. As once they were taken off of the cargo ship and offloaded onto a hanger they had no guarantee that they would not be discovered, or if they would even be able to get out of the crates. If a crate was staked atop the ones they were in getting out would be impossible to do in secret.

She hated the idea of having to come back to the Death Star; the rebellion though, required her to. When she had been found by the rebels she was in need of help and they offered under the condition that she as a 'Jedi' would aid the rebellion that sought to bring back the Republic. She had no other option at the time and became indebted to the rebels. Now she was sure that she would die for them too, and that they had not saved her life but rather prolonged it momentarily. The whole point of being in the crates and returning to the Death Star was to locate and steal technological schematics for the station so that the rebels had hope of destroying it.

How long had passed since Anastasia and the other two rebels entered their crates and smuggled themselves onto a cargo ship bound for the Death Star she was not sure. Only that she was getting agitated, this was not going to go as planned. If this was her nervousness or the force trying to warn her she was unsure. In the six years of relative freedom she had become so connected to the force that she relied more on it that her own senses. Through the force she could see the world around her for what it was, able to see past the illusions or lies that many attempted to use upon her. She had come to accept that when she was not yellow eyed with Dark Side powers she had a rather innocent look to her. Which led many of the vendors and transports that she had dealt with attempting to deceive her and rob her blind. She had over the years also become quite familiar with the more reliable smugglers and bounty hunters. Her familiarity with bounty hunters was not of her making, many of the times she became familiar with them because they were hunting her. Smugglers on the other hand had proved to be a fantastic way to avoid the empire when moving between worlds. The good ones she had even referred to the Rebellion, who had come to trust her judgment and would often seek her guidance before hiring certain smugglers.

She pulled out a small booklet and began to scrawl words across it awkwardly with her left hand. The space in the crate offered little room for her to be able to hold her pen properly let alone write neatly. Regardless she kept on writing, the booklet was small bound with a dark grey leather that was well worn, the pages inside were yellow. From age or the material they were made from she could not tell. It was a simple thing she had acquired early into her aiding of the rebellion. Now it was thick with slips of paper she had shoved into it. The book contained what she knew of the force mostly but it also served her as a diary so that she could prove, if only to herself, that she existed.

Anastasia paused in her writing as she heard footsteps coming towards her. When her crate was jostled and lifted she knew they had landed on the Death Star. She cautiously closed the booklet and tucked it away in her belt pouch so as to not make a sound that the people carrying her crate could hear. Now was the time to focus, she took a calming breath and searched through the force. She was definitely on the death star there was so much life around her that the vacuum of space did not offer. She was cautious in her search through the force, she was not sure if Vader was aboard the ship or not. She wanted to avoid brushing his mind for she would not be able to hide if he was aware of her presence. Through the force she was able to tell that she was being carried through the main hanger of the Death Star to a storage room that was attached, where the two men carrying her crate set her down roughly. She waited knowing that there would be more crates brought into the storage room from the transport. It wasn't until she was sure that the transport was unloaded and the storage room abandoned did she use the force and caused the clasps of the crate to flip open allowing her to push the lid up and breath the stale recycled air of the Death Star.

She pulled herself out of the crate and dropped the few feet to the floor as she had been stacked atop another crate. Reaching up she closed the lid and began to search for her two companions. It was a simple task to pick out their cramped forms with the force. One was trapped under a crate, the other off in a corner. Anastasia flipped the clasps of the crate in the corner allowing the Rebel free. She then held her hand out to the crate that was stacked upon the other false crate. It wobbled and slid slowly off the top of the crate and to the floor where she left it. Anastasia let out a sigh as the weight of the crate drained her energy. Instead of opening her companions crate with the force she went to it and pulled up the clasps.

"Good work Ana, let's get those plans and get out of here." Roland the ranking Rebel leader of the group said as he stretched his arms over his head.

"I told you before; I don't like to be called that." Anastasia said frowning at the man, she didn't particularly like him. He was very much a politician and her experience of politicians from Earth proved that they all lied to their own ends.

"Sorry Jedi, I forgot. Anyway, let's get this done and get the hell out of here." He said striding confidently to the door and pushing the button causing it to slide open. Anastasia sighed, getting aboard the Death Star was a mission of secrecy and silence, but Roland insisted that he couldn't be bothered with sneaking after getting aboard the Death Star and that it would only get them caught. It was a shit plan Anastasia thought. After all they had gotten their hands on some imperial grey uniforms but she did not wear such a garb. Only because she would stand out regardless being a woman. They were going to trying a ruse and act as if they were escorting her to see one of the commanders. Anastasia did not believe it would work. While she was not in imperial grey she wore a vibrant purple robe that supposedly was common in the emperor's court. It was over her simple black tunic and belt where she concealed her light sabers. She fidgeted with the massive robes which she would have to abandon should the need for fighting arise. This was a god awful plan; she did not like attracting attention to herself.

"Are you sure this will work?" Anastasia asked as Roland turned to her.

"Yes I am sure, here fix your hair these pins are loose. Now remember walk tall you are a member of the emperor's court. An honor greater than anything these officers have encountered."

"What about Tarkin?"

"Don't worry about it. This will work." Roland said as he walked out straight backed as Anastasia followed trying her best to look as regal as she could. She was pretty sure that it wasn't going to work and there was a nagging feeling that no matter what she did now it would not matter in the end.

A few storm troopers turned towards Roland and Anastasia but seemed to see the robes she wore and turned back to their posts and ignored them. Many of the officers didn't even look at them, others merely glanced. This was unbelievable it was actually working, yet that nagging feeling that they would be found out was only growing the further they went into the white and grey hallways of the Death Star. She glanced behind them but they were not being followed, she was nervous and distracted. It was not until it was too late did she realize that the force signatures of the life around them were closing in. She grabbed her light saber and yanked her arm back out of the robes in time to ignite it and block a blaster shot.

Several doors slide open and storm troopers came running out at them. Roland and Heigic their other companion both reached for their blasters, Heigic was shot down though Roland threw himself into the doorway of a nearby locked door and used it to shield him from most of the shot. Anastasia was blocking the blaster shot sending them back at the storm troopers. She had taken out many of the troopers before there were just too many in the hall to worry about deflecting blasters and she charged into the group. Wielding her light saber in her left hand she swung in elegant arcs which she would suddenly change direction twisting her body around and blocking with the saber. She spun and twisted in the masses of storm troopers using the force to help her jumps and balance.

Darth Vader strode down the hallway in which he had the storm troopers engage the Rebels, he could not tell over the security cameras who there were but he knew that a member of the emperor's court would never come to the Death Star unannounced and wearing court robes. Regardless he wanted them captured; perhaps he could attain the knowledge of the rebellion from them. He stopped just outside the ring of storm troopers that had gathered in the hall. When they saw him the parted making a tunnel for him to walk down, though towards the center of the group there was still a fight taking place. The familiar hum of a light saber drew his attention to the figure wearing the purple court robes. He was slightly shocked when he realized that it was Anastasia, her blond hair was pulled into a braided bun that was adorned with pins decorated with pearls, her purple court robes stained with the carbon residue of the blaster shots that went through it. She had changed in the years since he had taught her; he had expected her to become an actual Jedi upon leaving his teaching. This however was not the case as he could sense the power of the dark side radiating from her like an endless night consuming all light around her.

She was killing far too many storm troopers though; he had to put an end to this. He dropped the full weight of his power upon her shoulders. She fell from where she was mid jump to the ground. He expected her to resist, however he did not expect her to attack him in the same manor. She used what strength she had through the force and sought to bring him to his knees. Darth Vader however did not move, she was strong much stronger than when he had taught her. Yet her strength was fading fast as well as her anger. With it the consuming darkness of her force ebbed away to reveal her natural force signature, which was more like a sky in predawn. Soft neither light nor dark, she stood in the middle of the two. Vader let her up and she stood her face set in an unreadable expression, her eyes the unnatural yellow that came with the dark side of the force. She held out her left hand holding the light saber palm up and open, offering. She was surrendering to him; even in this vulnerable state that she now stood she appeared strong. Reaching his hand out Vader caught the hilt of the light saber that flew through the air to him.

"Come with me; take the other rebel to the detention level." Vader said as he turned walking down the hall. Though his back was to Anastasia he kept a close eye on her through the force not trusting her to not try something. Yet she did not speak did not deny him, she was silent and obedient. She had changed dramatically and was a woman he hardly recognized, and he most certainly did not trust her. It was less the fact that she had evaded him for six years, it was not even the fact that she had in those years become a competent fighter and the strength of the rebellion, no it was the fact that she had given up so quickly when he made himself known.

Vader led her to his quarters, once the door slid shut her turned on her quickly grabbing her left arm in a vicious grip that was reminiscent of the last time he held her so, when he broke her wrist. Though this was the same wrist he had broken before he intended to remind her of who was stronger.

"What do you think you are doing? Assisting the Rebels?" He asked her his tone cross; he did not expect her to have fear in her eyes as she did six years ago. Too much had happened since then for her to fear a broken wrist. He however did not expect her to not react to the rough grip he had on her wrist.

"There is nothing more you can do to hurt me."

"There is plenty I can do to hurt you." He said in a sinister tone, he did not care for her defiant attitude. He had hoped that in her years such arrogant behavior would have vanished, clearly this was not the case.

"You could hurt me, it would be no benefit to you though."

"What use are you to me?" Vader said frustrated with her indifference to his threat, he released her wrist and stalked across the room and sat on the couch. In six years the sitting room had yet to change. He glanced back at her as she pulled the heavy purple court robes over her head.

"I have to say I am glad you heard me Master." She said her voice muffled by the robes she was pulling over her head. Did he hear her right? Did she call him Master? He was about to respond when she dropped the robe to the floor revealing the simple black tunic that she wore, a brown belt around her waist with another light saber clipped to it. This was not what caused him to not speak, she dusted herself off with her left hand but her right arm was gone. The tunic was sleeveless revealing her right shoulder completely covered in a puckered red scar. The scar extended up from where her arm should have been to a spot on her neck where it ended jaggedly. Her left arm was covered in the red scars of light saber burns from when he trained her. She looked at him with an expression that he knew too well; cold on the outside but unable to completely hide the sorrow that was just below the surface.

"As I said, there is little you could do to hurt me."

(New chapter sorry it took so long, I've been rather busy. A lot more from Vader's point of view let me know if you don't like me writing like this. I put a large time gap between this chapter and the last because I wanted to establish that Anastasia has changed since the previous chapter. Please leave me a review)


	7. Chapter 7

I'd Rather Kiss A Wookiee Chapter 7: Within your grasp

"What happened to you?" Vader said as he gestured to the couch across from him. Anastasia sat and watched Vader for a moment; she had not let her guard down. Yet what was the point of returning now if she stopped now? Only thinking back to the events that led to the present was painful.

"The same thing that would happen to any foolish and frightened person who went into the galaxy as recklessly as I did, they are destroyed. I was too trusting and it cost me my arm. Since then I have had to make due. Keeping my injury secret kept me safe, though I don't expect you to understand." Vader scoffed slightly at her comment, which puzzled Anastasia for Vader was clearing intact and though she could not see his face did not seem to have suffered such injuries.

"I know more about such things than you. Why did you not get a prosthetic?" He asked as if the idea of it was such a casual matter. Anastasia frowned at him now, perhaps the cost of such a surgery was nothing for the right hand of the emperor but she had no credits to work with at the time.

"I didn't have the credits for anything. So you have prosthetics then?" Anastasia asked daring to ask Vader about his personal life. He watched her for a moment in silence before stating.

"Yes." When he spoke Anastasia felt the slight touch of the black silk that was Vader's force touch her mind. Lowering her wall she allowed him to connect through the force. Imaged flashed through her mind of a figure who was missing legs and an arm, the other was already a mechanical prosthetic. While these images were clear in part everything around the actual body of the man that was Vader was blurred and non-descript. He did not wish her to see how he looked, only to know that he had over the course of his life lost all of his limbs. As he broke the connection and before Anastasia closed herself to the force, yellow eyes filled with anger and hate flashed through her mind. Though the image and the feeling that accompanied this image was gone the moment she resumed her guard.

"Don't pity me, it happened years ago and is irrelevant." Vader said as he watched Anastasia. The two remained silent for a moment then Vader spoke, his question was not one she expected.

"Why did you run?" She was not sure how she was supposed to answer that. The emotions that had driven her to run from the Death Star six years ago had long since faded.

"I suppose it was a need to feel free again. I had killed that commander in my anger. I wanted to be free to not be expected to rely on my anger for strength. When I came to the rebels they did not place those expectations on me."

"So you fought for them and killed for them? How is that any different from what you were running from?"

"They are fighting for their freedom from the emperor and you." Anastasia said, though the moment she said this she knew it was the wrong thing to say. Darth Vader stood and igniting the red bladed light saber he had taken from her he kicked the coffee table out of his way as he attacked her.

The next thing Anastasia knew she was thrown on the floor of a holding cell in the detention level of the Death Star, a place she was all too familiar with. Only Roland was in the cell also, he looked relatively unscathed which Anastasia supposed was a good thing. It meant they had yet to torture him for information. Anastasia pushed herself up and took the assistance that Roland offered when he realized she was hurt.

"What happened to you?" He asked as he helped her to sit on the bench. Anastasia grimaced as the freshly seared skin on her arm and side complained at her movements.

"Vader tried to get me to talk about the rebellion."

"Did you talk?" Roland asked his face a mask of worry.

"No. But he took my belt and extra light saber." Anastasia said with remorse.

"What is in your belt pocket? You sound as if it is abnormally bad that he took your belt."

"It had my journal in it. There are some details of the rebellion in there."

"Ana! What the hell is wrong with you!? You knew better to bring that with you! You have jeopardized the entire rebellion now!"

"Most of the information is too dated to be of any use, but the rebellion will know to move when we don't return. Hopefully they will do so before Vader can reach them."

"I hope that you are right. If Vader catches up with the rebellion this will all be for not."

"Have they pressed you for information yet?"

"No, I am not sure why. I think that they are under the impression that they can break you before me."

"I don't know why they would think that." Anastasia said as she examined one of the light saber burns.

"Because you were captive here for several months once before."

"That was because they thought I knew where other Jedi were and I did not crack." Anastasia said in the most confident tone that she could muster. The rebellion had no idea that she had once been Darth Vader's apprentice. She intended to keep that secret from them if at all possible; they did not need to know how she came to their cause.

"You never did tell anyone, but do you know where other Jedi are?"

"You realize that they are probably recording this conversation. So if we get out of here I will answer that."

Though Anastasia did not expect to get out of the Death Star any time soon she still held hope that she would not be stuck on that ship again. She knew that she would be tortured for information. It wasn't in Vader's nature to have prisoners with information and not attempt to extract that information. Though he was going about it in a different manner; instead of trying to use the mind probe he simply tortured Anastasia and left Roland alone to watch the progression of Anastasia's digressing health.

Two storm troopers dragged Anastasia back to the cell she shared with Roland and threw her in the room causing further pain to come from her injuries. Her injuries that she sustained over the matter of days were mostly burns that were followed with several cuts, bruises, and a fractured rib.

In the days that passed since their capture Anastasia would be taken and returned later with more injuries. Roland had in those days come to accept what was happening with a sort of growing dread. For if Anastasia died before Vader got the answers he wanted, Roland himself would be subject to the not so gentle questionings of the Sith lord.

Roland went to Anastasia and tried to help her stand only to have her fall again. So instead of trying to make her walk Roland picked up the woman and carried her the three steps to the metal bench and set her down. Anastasia leaned against the cold metal wall her breath short and pained.

"I'm sorry Roland." She breathed looking at her fellow rebel.

"What for?"

"I can't do this much longer. He is torturing my mind as well as my body. I hardly know what are my own thoughts and what he wants me to think." Anastasia said closing her eyes and leaning her head against the cold wall letting it ease away her head ache. Roland for the first time realized how fragile Anastasia was. She was a slight girl, her short stature and thin frame had never been something he noticed. She had always carried herself with such confidence and strength that he forgot how fragile she actually was. While he had been subject to the mental torture of knowing that everything that happened to Anastasia was because they would not talk ate away at him. Looking at her now he understood what Anastasia said, she had two options left and neither were ideal. She could die and tell Vader nothing, or she could talk and become a traitor to the rebellion.

"Anastasia, why do you fight for the rebellion?" Roland asked and for several moments received no response from the woman next to him.

"It's the only way, to be free and be near him." She said her voice shaking slightly as the pain from her fractured rip made breathing difficult.

"Him? Him who?" Roland asked, for this was the first time he had ever heard mention of a man from Anastasia. While they were not particularly close the only person she had been close to was the Wookiee Tarruffa. Though the whole rebellion understood their relationship was that of a life debt and nothing more.

"The man I love. I guess it doesn't matter now, I will probably die before he knows I ever cared."

"Where is he now?" Roland asked watching Anastasia, she had not opened her eyes but her face was an expression of pain.

"Somewhere on an imperial star ship, before I lost my arm I would draw him. I don't think he ever noticed how I felt though, he had a woman." Roland sat silent; he did not know how to respond to that. This new information made sense though; he knew what Anastasia had told the rebellion of her past. The empire had destroyed her home planet and she had been held prisoner for several months as Vader interrogated her for information about other Jedi. She escaped the Death Star with the wookiee Tarruffa and lost her arm when they landed on a planet and were attacked. She had after the attack been found by the rebellion but they had not trusted her so they did not find the funds to get her a prosthetic arm.

Anastasia had always explained her reasons for joining the rebellion to be for the sake of those who are oppressed by the empire. That she did not want a government where the ruler could choose to have a planet destroyed. Never once had she mentioned a man in her reasons for always taking the missions that almost guaranteed fighting with the empire. Roland realized now that each time she offered to go to the front lines it was fueled partly by the hope that she would see this man she loved.

For the remainder of the day they did not speak to each other, for Roland could say nothing to encourage Anastasia to hold her silence. If she was going to break it would be soon, if she did not break she would die. Roland however was not sure which the better option to her was, if she died she would not have to suffer from unrequited love, yet she would never see this man she loved again.

The following day Anastasia was dragged from the cell and brought before Darth Vader. She had received little to no sleep the night before as she was too troubled by visions through the force. On top of the injuries and her lack of sleep caused the storm troopers to have to hold her up as they stood before Vader.

"Are you prepared to give me the names of the rebel leaders?" Vader asked in a calm tone as he looked down at Anastasia. She however did not look at him and kept her eyes down on the ground, this caused Vader to become frustrated. He grabbed her jaw and tilted her head up to look at him and said.

"The rebel names, now." Anastasia looked straight into the lenses of Vader's mask and said.

"I can't help but pity you." Vader let go of Anastasia's jaw and said to the storm troopers.

"Leave." The storm troopers let Anastasia go, and she fell to the ground at Vader's feet as the storm troopers left. Once they were gone Vader grabbed Anastasia's hair and pulled her head back forcing her to look up at him.

"Why should you pity me?" His voice full of venom as he looked down at her.

"Because, I see you for whom you are beyond the mask. You can't hide the pain that is in your heart. I don't know what happened that caused that pain but I recognize it…" Anastasia stopped talking as Vader gave her hair a vicious pull.

"You know nothing. Now give me the names of the rebel leaders, I have no qualms killing you."

"What happens if I tell you?" Vader paused for a moment, he hadn't thought of what he would do if Anastasia gave him the information he wanted. Anastasia took that moment's hesitation that Vader presented and asked.

"Would you let me return to your side?" She asked tears pricked her eyes and threatened to fall. She wanted to believe it was because of the gloved hand holding her hair forcing her to look up at Vader's mask, she knew better than that though. She feared that he might reject her offer. Vader let go of her hair and said as he knelt in front of her.

"Why should I give you a second chance?" Anastasia pushed herself up to sit and spoke softly looking down at the floor.

"I left because I felt trapped here on the Death Star, but more than that I joined the rebellion because I knew that if it became known that a Jedi was with the rebels you would get involved. When I ran I lost everything that had become solid in the galaxy and was just living in chaos. So when I would do missions for the rebellion and had the chance of coming in contact with y… the empire it gave me a sense of stability. I'd like that back." A communication com link beeped and Vader walked away from Anastasia hitting the button answering the com link.

"Lord Vader the rebel has said that he will talk." Anastasia looked up at Vader's back and paled, Roland was going to talk, which meant that Vader had no need for Anastasia or her offered deal.

"Bring him here." Vader said then shut the link off. In the few minutes that the two waited for Roland to arrive they remained in a stagnate state of awkward silence. Finally Ronald entered the room escorted by two storm troopers breaking the stillness that had settled over Anastasia and the Sith Lord. Once the door slid shut Vader turned to face Anastasia and Roland. Roland looked fearfully between Anastasia and Vader.

"Anastasia are you alright?" Roland looked at Vader and said. "I will only give you the information you want if you let Anastasia go."

"Roland don't…" Anastasia said to have Vader interrupt her.

"If that is what you want then kill him Anastasia." Roland and Anastasia both looked at Vader.

"What?"

"Kill him and you can return to your place by my side."

"By his side? What does he mean…?" Roland said then realized what Vader meant his expression became a mask of anger. "You liar! You're an imperial spy!"

"No, that's…Roland…" Anastasia said trying to explain as the tears that threatened to fall began to escape.

"Do it." Vader said cutting of their conversation. Anastasia looked from Vader to Roland tears streaking her face. She took hold of the force and coiled it around his neck choking the life from him. The expression that crossed Roland's face was one that Anastasia had no words to describe and one that she knew would haunt her for the rest of her life. When Roland fell to the floor dead Anastasia lowered her head so her hair fell before her face hiding her tears. This was not how she wanted to return to Vader's side.

"Remove him." Vader said to the storm troopers who dragged Roland's body from the room. When the door slid closed Vader went to his com link and when the small blue hologram appeared Vader knelt down. Anastasia was shocked to the brink of fainting by the force that belonged to the hologram. Their power was greater than Vader and they wielded that power unhindered. The force was darker than any she had sensed before, an all-consuming darkness.

"Master I have captured the Rebel Jedi. I believe that she can be of use to you if she can be turned to the dark side."

"Lord Vader, bring this Jedi before me and I will determine if this Jedi will be of any use to me."

"Yes Master." With those two words the hologram and the unbearable force vanished. Vader stood and turned to Anastasia who was watching him.

"That was the emperor wasn't it?"

"Yes. Follow me; we will not keep the emperor waiting." He said as he started towards the door. Anastasia dropped her head slightly as she tried to force herself to stand, though her legs were unwilling to support her and she made no progress in the venture.

"Master, I uh can't stand." Vader turned and looked down at her before walking over to her and pulling her up and held her standing by his hold on her arm. He pulled her along next to him as he left the room.

"You should be stronger than this, after six years of fighting the empire I thought you would have improved."

"Master, I don't think the Jedi Masters of old could stand up to your kind of persuasion, and I am nowhere close to being as strong as you or the fallen Jedi."

"I killed those Jedi you are praising, and until you are put under my supervision by the emperor you will refer to me as Lord Vader." Anastasia frowned but did not argue with Vader on the matter. She realized that perhaps she had been a secret kept from the emperor the entire time. Anastasia stumbled along next to Vader as he led her from the higher levels of the Death Star one of the hangers where his transport was waiting.

They did not travel far with the transport as they were simply going to Vader's super star destroyer. Anastasia was sure that she was never going to get used to the size of everything in space. Walking off of the transport and into the hanger of the star destroyer it looked remarkably similar to the Death Star. Though she was not sure that it was to be unexpected grey was a running theme with the empire.

Once they were aboard the star destroyer Vader handed Anastasia off to a storm trooper and gave his orders.

"Take her to the detention block and see that she receives medical attention." Turning his attention to a commander who walked up to salute to Vader the orders continued.

"Commander take us to Coruscant, the Emperor is expecting us." With mention of the Emperor the Commander became very rigid in his stance and responded.

"Yes Lord Vader." Turning quickly he made his way out of the hanger. Anastasia did not get to see any more of what Vader did as the Storm Trooper took her from the hanger and to the detention cell. It was in that cell that Anastasia received minor medical attention and a meal of prison slop. Had it not been for the growing anxiety about meeting the Emperor she might have found some sense of security in her situation.

After a moment of simply sitting in her cell Anastasia cast her mind out through the force trying to sense more of what was happening around her. She had been aware of the storm troopers and wardens in the hall around her and she knew that there was movement and life all around in a wider radius. It was normal for her to constantly survey her immediate area through the force when searching beyond though it required more of her attention.

She had hardly begun her search of the ship when Vader's presence closed in around her mind blocking all force sight. Anastasia tried to push past Vader's block on her force sight but it was to no avail. Even at full strength Anastasia did not think she could best Vader in saber skill or force ability.

Anastasia frowned to herself as she tried again to breach the mental block that Vader had created. It must have had some strength to it for once she tried to breach the block Vader tightened his hold on her mind creating a cramped uncomfortable sense like a snake coiling itself around its prey. Anastasia gave an audible sigh giving up on her endeavor to look at the ship through the force.

Hours past and Anastasia felt blind. Vader had kept his block on her force sight, it had gotten to the point that any time Anastasia closed her eyes she could feel Vader's presence as if he was standing right next to her. She would often open her eye expecting to see him to be greeted only by the grey walls of the cell. She had settled in for what she expected to be a long journey to Coruscant where the Emperor was. Unable to do anything else Anastasia sat on the bench in the cell settling herself into the corner she rested her head against the cool metal and waited.

At some point Anastasia became comfortable with the constant sense of Vader that she was able to drift to sleep. Yet even in her dreams she could not fully escape the effect of Vader's presence on her mind. As she watched a memory that was passed on through the force, it was one she had seen before. It was Anakin and the woman Padme, though it was different now. Nothing Anakin or Padme did changed as Anastasia wandered away from the two out of villa and towards the patio. No it was Vader that made this memory different; somehow Anastasia knew that he was seeing this same memory. Perhaps it was through his own meditations or because he had been so closely holding onto Anastasia's mind, blocking it from seeing through the force. Regardless of how he was there Anastasia felt awkward about watching Anakin and Padme through the memory now. It felt as if she was invading on something personal.

Looking out from the patio another strange thing became apparent to Anastasia; she could clearly see the lands around the villa; before they had been nondescript places of color and the suggestion of hills and lakes. It was as if the surroundings that were not truly important to the memory were somehow filled in now, as if the missing piece of the puzzle was found and put in place.

No she knew that she was invading on something personal, it was his presence here within this memory. It related to him and now he knew what she had seen. She knew he would be able to sense the familiarity that Anastasia experienced when the memory surfaced through the force. It was another layer of her secrets and shadows gone, and he was now a step closer to knowing the truth behind her actions. That was if he did not know already.

( I know I know! I'm sorry that I haven't posted a chapter in so long! I had another story that needed posting to. One that was neglected far longer than I have neglected this. I will try to post more soon. I need to formulate for the next few chapters cause if I don't do them right then I will screw up my own story. Please review.)


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